DIXFIELD, Maine (AP) — The police department in a Maine town is closing because the police chief resigned and because they do not have enough full-time officers.
The Dixfield town board voted on Monday for the Oxford County sheriff to replace the town’s police department, the Rumford Falls Times reported.
Dixfield police Chief Aaron Mick’s resignation will take effect on Friday. He was hired in September and resigned because recruiting new officers was too difficult, Town Manager Dustin Starbuck told the newspaper.
The town will lay off its one remaining full-time officer and another officer, who was on administrative leave due to an investigation.
The Oxford County Sheriff’s Department briefly took over policing for the town of Dixfield in 2016 when the department’s few officers were on administrative leave or placed on reserve, the Bangor Daily News reported.
The department is closed, Starbuck told the newspaper. “The reason is, until the voters actually vote to disband we can’t dissolve or disband it.”
Public hearings on whether to continue to partner with the county sheriff’s department or to make another decision will be scheduled starting in September, Starbuck said.
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