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September 25, 2015
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Eastport police chief submits resignation
by Edward French

 

             After eight months on the job, Eastport Police Chief Frances LaCoute submitted her resignation on September 17, effective October 15.
     The decision did not appear to be an easy one for her to make. She states, "I really enjoyed working here. This here was my favorite job. Being a police officer, people treat you differently, but in Eastport they treated me with more respect than in a long time. They speak with you. It's just been a joy working here."
     "I have no regrets, other than that I'm leaving," she says. "I thank the people of Eastport for being so good to me." In a Facebook post to "Eastport, America," she wrote, "I will always remember all of you and how kind you were to the police department. With all that's going on in the country right now, you don't know how much that means to officers."
      While declining to give the reasons for her decision to resign, she does state, "I think when you have someone who is the head of a department, you need to let the department head do what they need to do. If they have a budget, they should be able to spend out of that budget and make the decisions that need to be made."
     She also notes that it is difficult to provide full-time coverage with just three full-time and two part-time officers. The department previously had five full-time officers, then was reduced by the city to four then three. "To have a full-time department, you need at least four," she says, while acknowledging the city council and taxpayers' desire to reduce costs. Having an additional officer, though, would save on overtime costs.
    The city council, at a special meeting on September 21, discussed the resignation in executive session. The council did not vote on accepting the resignation but did vote to have an advertisement placed on the Maine Municipal Association website for a police chief.
    Gilbert Murphy, the city council's vice president, says that the entire council "hated to see her go. I feel it's a great loss to the city." He adds, "She was a great asset. The people in town loved her."
     LaCoute points to some of the positive points of community policing that she has brought to the city, including more patrolling where children are walking to school in order to get traffic to slow down. She walks through town, checking on doors, and looks in on seniors who live alone to make sure they are all right. "That's the kind of things you do for a community. People are then more apt to talk to you," she says, including school children. She also would post on Facebook photos she has taken, so that "older people who don't get out can see things, too." She goes to the suppers and breakfasts at the churches and says, "The community involvement by being a police officer is great for a community."
     Other changes she has implemented include altering the parking on three streets -- Boynton, Dana and Key -- so that it is only on one side of the street, and updating the department's personnel policies.
     LaCoute notes that she does have a job offer to work for the Pleasant Point Police Department, where she previously worked. She had been hired as the Eastport police chief last February, replacing Rodney Merritt. After Matt Vinson resigned in March 2011, the city has had five police chiefs over the four and a half year period.

September 25, 2015    (Home)     

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