A shortage of police in some rural areas is emerging as a key concern for Maine lawmakers as they dig into Gov. Janet Mills' $71 million change to the state budget.
The spending plan contains additional money for the state police to maintain rural patrols in some counties, but not enough to expand them.
The governor's proposal calls for roughly $5 million in additional funding for the Maine State Police, including the hiring of 32 officers to fill vacancies.
It was billed as a way to beef up rural patrols, but only for counties that have call sharing agreements with state police.
That has frustrated lawmakers like Rep. Jack Ducharme, a Republican from Madison, who asked state police Col. William Ross about the additional funding during Monday's budget hearing.
"How does that impact Somerset County? How does is going to impact the people in Madison, Cornville and Norridgewock? And that's what I'm trying to understand," he asked Ross.
"Sure and that's a great question. Directly from rural patrol standpoint, it's not going to impact them," Ross replied.
Somerset County does not have an agreement with the state police, and even if one was secured, Ross said additional funding would be necessary to hire additional officers.
The exchange captures growing concern about the absence of regular patrols in rural areas. Last year the Maine State Police abandoned its agreement with Washington County because it doesn't have enough officers to send there.
There are currently 331 Maine State Police officers, down from an all-time high of 370 more than 40 years ago. And Ross told lawmakers that the agency had more than 5,000 overtime shifts last year, so much that officers are turning it down.
He said the agency is "juggling with chainsaws" to manage current staff vacancies and policing demands.
Hiring and retention have been a persistent problem for state and local law enforcement across the U.S. A 2023 report by the Police Executive Research Forum found that police departments are losing more officers than they can recruit.
