Limestone Residents to Decide Fate of Police Department

LIMESTONE, Maine (WAGM) -

Limestone residents will soon decide the fate of their town’s police department.

In a town select board meeting Wednesday evening the board unanimously passed a motion to disband the Limestone Police, according to interim Police Chief Jesse Cormier. That decision will need to be voted on by residents in a referendum before taking effect. Since taking over last September, Cormier says the hardest part of the job, and the primary reason for the department’s possible closure, is staffing.

“I think I had one applicant that was an actual applicant the whole time. The interest is not there anymore, the applicant pool is pretty dismal and this is where we’re at. It comes to the point where it’s not fair for the Sheriff’s Office and the State Police to help us with coverage, continue the coverage, because their short staffed as well.”

Cormier says that if disbanded, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Maine State Police will take over coverage of the town on a rotating basis in a similar fashion to other towns like Van Buren who disbanded their police department in 2021. A date for the referendum vote has not yet been announced. Cormier’s last day in the position will be Monday as he had turned his resignation into the town prior to the board’s vote.

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