Limestone Approves to Disband Police Department

LIMESTONE, Maine (WAGM) -

The Limestone Police Department has been disbanded following a special town meeting Wednesday evening.

In a public vote with little to no opposition, the Town of Limestone voted to close down the police department following continued difficulty in recruiting new officers. The Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office and Maine State Police will now be responsible for providing coverage to Limestone residents. The town also approved a measure to transfer the approximately 237,000 dollars that remains in the Police department account to the Public Works department’s pavement reserve. The meeting from start to finish took a mere 12 minutes, much to the surprise of Interim Town Manager Walter Elliot.

“The number of calls that we had into the office, people calling me, asking me about it. I tell them where we’re at, what we’re going to get and it made a lot of people a lot more comfortable with the decision. I figured it was going to be quick and easy tonight, it went a little faster than I expected but the sheriff’s office and state police have been doing a super job, I even called their offices thanking them for the coverage because it’s been excellent so I think we’re in a win-win.”

The Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office along with the Maine State Police have already been providing coverage to Limestone since April 4th, when interim police chief Jesse Cormier stepped down.