BANGOR, Maine — A team of Maine State Police troopers and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department deputies left for New Jersey on Sunday morning to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which wreaked havoc on the region when it made landfall a week ago.
The 11 troopers and four deputies are expected to arrive in New Jersey on Sunday evening, where they will stay at Fort Dix Army base before assisting local officers by patrolling the area Monday, according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.
They will be sworn in as New Jersey law enforcement officers.
Two of the Maine troopers previously lived in New Jersey and two of the deputies served in Louisiana seven years ago after Hurricane Katrina struck, McCausland said.
“We are proud to have you represent Maine on the streets of New Jersey and to assist the residents of that state in their recovery from this hurricane,” Col. Robert Williams, chief of the Maine State Police told the team before it left from South Portland on Sunday morning.
How do Maine state troopers have any jurisdiction down there? And who will fund our troopers’ leaves from their Maine responsibilities? Are we overstaffed here and can afford to downsize for awhile? Just asking the questions.
the article said they would be sworn in as NJ officials. As for funding… how about all those snow storms when other states sent crews here to restore utilities? Sounds like neighbor helping neighbor.
Utilities are not law enforcement.
At least one should stay here and protect you from hurting yourself. That’s just how numb your comments are!
Like your answer LOL.
In my opinion, our law enforcement officers belong here in Maine, not off working somewhere else under another jurisdiction. Numb is not a problem I have ever had, but thank you for your concern.
Now that I know you don’t have a problem being numb I can sleep much better tonight.Certainly hope one of your friends never needs your help.
ath20, you don’t know me at all. If you did, you wouldn’t make such an inaccurate judgmental statement. I have handed cash to a stranger more than once in the past month to help them out. Have you?
No, I have not. My hats off to you.
so if you understand the human need to help, why would you be upset at the goodwill and willingness of the Maine State Police? Where does our “neighborhood” end, anyway? If they’re fellow citizens of the planet, I care about them, and everybody should.
Of course I care about citizens of the planet. However, these are law enforcement officers for Maine. Having them going off to another state and being sworn in to serve that state seems wrong to me. By all means, I know the people in Sandy’s path need help. I’ve been keeping up on that, and the media is doing a poor job in covering the extent of it.
Perhaps you missed the line in the above article which clearly stated “They will be sworn in as NJ law enforcement officers.”
Any questions?
NJ. this is the State that union members are theatening out of State power company workers trying to fix the lines because they are non union.. So can’t save your life because we are non union.
LOL….get ready for the haters to lash out at you!!
Hello? Yes. Before you leave to go serve an oath in another state, would you please go to the Zumba domination sheet story on this website and investigate who is posting hard core porn with open access to minors?
Half the internet is hardcore porn with open access to minors. Why don’t you try being a quality parent and monitor what your kid/kids are doing instead of looking for someone else to do your job.
The comedy in this is that you don’t know me at all or you’d laugh at yourself with the assumptions you’ve made.
Just what they need in Jersey. more police.
good police…your talking about Jersey!!!
Actually, Jersey is generally pretty safe overall unless you plan on wandering around Trenton. And…Jersey’s cops and Stateys are some of the best our country has to offer.
I hope with all that we have going on here in our home state that we can spare them.
IIRC, that false ‘shooting’ report in Corinna last week had six state police cars respond: that sounds like we have a few troopers to spare.
Oh I see your point…..because we had 6 police officers repond to a reported shooting than that correlates to having to having too many police……Maybe Superman wasn’t available.
You might want to think about how thick on the ground they have to be for six to have arrived at a spot that’s not especially near anywhere before the first one there found out it was a false alarm.
Good luck guys show em how its done
This makes more sense than having the National Guard perform police duties. I would guess the officers will be paid from federal disaster funding.
Wow!! I pray that the ones who are bashing this idea never have a catastrophe hit your area which might require the need for other state’s law enforcement to come here! I can certainly understand why Maine is doing this. The law enforcement officers down there are working round the clock to help and protect their communities and they need a break. A friend of mine is on his 7th day of working 13 hour shifts!
In the former Soviet Union, all the military units in Moscow were from the far east. The Kremlin leadership knew that when civil insurrection came, native Russian soldiers could not be counted on to open fire on their kin. The mongol troops from the far reaches of Siberia, however, would not hesitate to kill slavs by the thousands.
.
This is a training exercise. The ruling cabal knows it has stolen too much for too long. They know their time is running out. Hence, they take a page from their Bolshevik mentors.
Good luck and be safe. You will make Maine proud and the people asking if we can afford to let the troopers go. We as a state can’t afford not to let them go. This is a nightmare down there.
Their responsibility is in Maine.
Their responsibility is to help our brothers and sister in NJ and NY. GOOD LUCK.
I don’t have any brothers or sisters in NJ or New York but figure we should help out anyway.
Maybe thats why your name is cheesecake not sure.
Hope all goes well for them. Just wish they had a photo that included the deputies and just not showing the troopers. It is not uncommon to send people out of state when help is needed. We send Forest Rangers out of state to assist with wild fires. We send local fire fighters out of state to fight those same fires. Our drug unit can go out of state to follow a case. The whole idea is to work together in time of need. I sure hope that if we had an emergency that we could count on assistance from away. As for the National Guard they are not trained in law enforcement unless the happen to be a Military Police unit. With the reported looting and black outs I am sure NJ can use the help.
A group of Maine Forest Rangers has been down there for several days already. It is good that we are able to provide some help during these tough times.
What’s wrong with New Joisey’s national guard? And they have a whole army base there…Fort Dix…Why does Maine always have to bail out these southerners….
Were you around for the ice storm? And the guard are not cops.
want some cheez with that whine?
wwjd?
Go Maine !
When someone needs help, you help. Simple as that.
After NJ sent non union workers home, I wouldn’t send anyone or anything to that state. F them…
Hope they are part of a Union, they might just get sent back.
Make sure you have your union card with you!
Are they earning overtime for this?
I don’t know any specifics on this but I do know how similar situations have worked in the past and whatever they may or may not be earning (I know people who have gone to other states to help voluntarily and this may be one of those cases) is most likely not overtime. Usually, the funding comes from either the PD requesting help or federal disaster relief funding — not the budget that the tax payers pay into. Also, we have many reserve officers, deputies, troopers etc. who usually work a shift or two a week for a lower wage than the full-time officers so these reserves may have volunteered to fill their shifts and work 40 hours rather than the normal 10-20 but not work overtime. In that case we would actually be spending much less than we normally would since they work for a lower wage. Like, I said, I can’t be certain that is how it’s done this time but whether people believe it or not USUALLY (I will agree, not always) the departments are pretty conscious of their budgets and how they are spent. I hope this answers some questions on here :-)
Stay safe MSP and other LE while you are helping those in need. Thank you for all you do everyday!
BRAVO! BE SAFE.
Likely they could’ve filled a whole bus if the call was made for Mainers in general to help out — lots of folks haven’t forgotten what that’s all about. Don’t have to like somebody or agree with whom he votes for when he’s helping put out a fire at my house. Just saying.
there’s drug ridden towns in maine they should be deployed too,nevermind new jersey!!!!
It appears that the Maine State Police are overstaffed by at least eleven troopers.
Charming.
Instead of complaining about the crime we have here in Maine and loosing only 11 troopers and 4 deputies for a short amount of time, you should praise these men. They are leaving the safety of Maine and away from their families to go to NY or NJ where there is so much danger waiting for them. I have very close friends and family there (in the hardest hit areas) and they said the looting alone is unbelievable. They need as much assistance as possible and I am grateful that my home state is there to lend a helping hand – you all should be proud of where you live, not downing us because we are sending relief.
Best of luck to these troopers and deputies and thank you for helping in any way possible!
Thanks for what you are all doing down there, and godspeed to all of you! Your help is badly needed and you are up to the task. Many lives will be either improved or saved as the reult of all of your efforts.
If they’re not part of the “union” they’ll be turned away like NJ did with the Alabama line workers who tried to help restore electricity. Screw NJ for that behavior.
even pond scum can have an opinion
So you think people need to be part of a union in order to offer aide?
You must belong to a union.
No wonder prices are so high. No wonder why incompetent employees can’t be fired. No wonder there’s 10 guys standing around watching one work. No wonder it takes so long to build anything. Thanks a lot.
Subject: [bdn] Re: Team of Maine troopers, sheriff’s deputies head to NJ to help in wake of hurricane