letter to the editor

Police deserve to be paid fairly

Mon, 12/07/2020 - 2:45pm

Dear Editor:

There aren’t many issues in our town that don’t inspire disagreement; but one issue seems to unite most of us: Boothbay Harbor benefits from our strong and well managed police force. 

In troubling times when conflict seems to be everywhere, our law enforcers walk their beat and know the names of most citizens, every downtown merchant and many visitors. They walk the fine edge between enforcement and common sense. Not only do they resolve the stuff that goes on when we are all asleep, but during the day they are the foundation of a cohesive community as demonstrated by their sense of humor and neighborly disposition. This is not ordinary performance. They deserve at minimum ordinary pay.

The salary metric is relatively simple and compared to other police forces that compete for our talent our officer's compensation is apparently low. Moreover, the impact to the municipal budget to rectify this is about the same as we spend on a few fireworks displays in July and August. Sadly, it seems that some of our elected leadership seems inclined to pay lawyers to defend the wrong position rather than simply being fair in the first place.  

Let’s pay the police what they’ve earned and raise their salaries to meet the going rate of competing communities and stop sending the wrong message to those who have loyally stood by us, when we, have needed them.

Tom Myette

Boothbay Harbor