When Matt and Suzanne Johnson moved to Gray six years ago, the patrols of the Maine State Police and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office seemed sufficient to keep this rural community safe.

But as Gray has grown, it has become more of a bedroom community for the Portland area, leaving homes empty during the day, and susceptible to break-ins. Stories of violent and drug-related crime in Gray pop up more than before, Johnson said, as do reports of petty infractions like vandalism and littering. Traffic, and vehicle speed, have increased on the town’s main roads, too, he said.

Simply put, Johnson said, small-town Gray, population 7,500 and rising, may be experiencing the kinds of big-city problems that cause town’s to create their own municipal police force, one that would be there to combat crime around the clock, making residents feel safe and possibly increasing property values. “It seems like the town is kind of at a crossroads,” he said.

There is certainly evidence to support that claim. Gray is the largest community in Maine not to have a municipal police force, and through the first six months of 2008 almost half of the service calls handled in Cumberland County by the Maine State Police originated in Gray. At the same time, state police and sheriff’s officials are struggling to patrol the county’s more rural areas with limited resources, and the strain on those agencies hinders law enforcement in Gray.

The issue of establishing a municipal police force in Gray has come up before. Around five years ago, said Lt. Walter Grzyb of the Maine State Police barracks in Gray, residents rejected a proposal to use contract officers from either the state police or the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. With Gray growing and generating a significant number of police calls, Councilors Tracy Scheckel and Matt Sturgis said it may be time to have that debate again.

“I definitely think we need to look into something more than we have,” said Scheckel.

Though he feels the deputies and troopers who patrol Gray do a wonderful job, Sturgis said it is unreasonable to think they can continue to enforce the law in town as the population rises while budgets stay flat.

“To expect that we are going to receive the same level of coverage that we’ve had in the past is probably unfair to those operations,” he said.

Spread thin

The Troop B barracks in Gray dedicates two troopers per shift to cover the nine Cumberland County towns without municipal police, said Grzyb. That is the same number of troopers as 25 years ago, he added.

“I would love nothing more than to put a trooper in every community in Cumberland County,” said Grzyb. “But that’s not the reality.”

The Maine State Police and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department signed an agreement earlier this month that has the state police covering Gray and New Gloucester while the Sheriff’s Office takes calls from the remaining seven towns. The plan will eliminate overlap and make sure resources are used efficiently, Gryzb said.

Still, the agencies have their limits. Grzyb said his office often fields calls from Gray residents who want more patrols to cover areas prone to speeding or vandalism. Usually, the state police are stretched too thin to fulfill those requests, he said. And, with 1,300 out of 2,807 calls from Jan. 1-July 23 coming from Gray, the state police are already giving the town more than its share of attention.

“If I were the other towns, I’d be a little upset that Gray is monopolizing the resources,” said Gryzb.

The town’s reluctance to add its own force may come from the comfort of having the state police barracks in Gray, though that should not lull residents into thinking they have their own full-time protection, said Col. Patrick Fleming of the Maine State Police.

“I think Gray, where they have a state police barracks in town, they look at it as their barracks,” said Fleming.

Whether or not the town establishes its own force is up to the residents, Gryzb said, but the town needs to clearly understand the limitations of the state and regional police forces, and know that an officer is not always right around the corner.

A pricey proposition

Another reason Gray residents likely balk at a town police department is the cost. Buxton, with a 10-member force, spends around $700,000 a year to maintain its police department. Yarmouth and Cumberland both employ 12 officers, at an annual cost of around $840,000 and $920,000, respectively.

The town’s budget is tight, said Sturgis, and the council does not take tax increases lightly. Any spending increases would likely have to be offset with cuts elsewhere, he said.

“It would be a darn hard road to go up,” he said. “Is that at the cost of the other town departments? What do we cut back on?”

One option open to Gray is to contract with either the state police or sheriff’s office to provide dedicated officers to the town, which Gray did at one time.

Under a typical agreement, the town pays the agency for a number of trained officers who work out of a municipal office and patrol the area 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The town provides the equipment and the patrol cars, which are marked with the municipality’s name.

Standish, a town of around 9,000, will pay the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office $414,000 this year for five dedicated deputies, said Town Manager Gordon Billington. At least one deputy is on for each shift, and two deputies are present during the busiest times, he said.

“We are very pleased. It has served our town very well,” said Billington.

The Standish officers have integrated themselves into the community, even establishing a volunteer policing group that helps conduct property checks, visit at-risk senior citizens, and resolve traffic issues, Billington said.

“Standish is almost a role model for that situation,” said Gryzb, adding that the contract deputy program is a good alternative for towns who cannot afford a full police department. “They get all the benefits of having a police department without having the headaches.”

Johnson, a Gray resident with two small kids, said he likes the idea of having contract officers in town. As the same officers patrol the same areas day after day, they will understand the area and what residents expect, he said.

“They know the local folks. They know where things occur,” Johnson said.