Windham County Sheriff's Department
~ Breaking News ~

By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN, Reformer Staff
Brattleboro Reformer

This past weekend, extensive damage was done to the Bellows Falls Middle School. The United Church of Christ, the former Windham Northeast Supervisory Union building at 8A Atkinson St. and the Rockingham Library were also hit between Thursday and Wednesday evenings.

Cars throughout the village were also damaged.

Bellows Falls Police Sgt. John Dunfee estimates that almost $5,000 worth of property was ruined in the spree that occurred between April 19 and 25.

The village trustees voted to slash the police force by 25 percent to keep the budget down, but with the annual meeting approaching, Municipal Manager John Schempf said he hoped the residents of Bellows Falls would take a hard look at the damage and reconsider the trustees' decision.

"I hope that money can be put back in the budget at the annual meeting," Schempf said this week. "I think the village needs 24 hour police coverage."

Dunfee said his force is stretched to its limit. When there are one or two officers on, if a call comes in, Dunfee said it is sometimes impossible to answer.

And he said investigating a series of crimes, like the ones that occurred last week, will be a challenge.

"It's hard to solve crime when you are constantly reporting to crime," Dunfee said. "The only way to prevent crime is to be right there on the spot, and when your staff is cut, you can't do that."

Even though the number of officers has been reduced from nine to six, Dunfee said the rate of crime has remained the same.

So not only is the department closed for a few hours in the day, but when the officers are there they are working harder than ever.

And the warmer weather, when Dunfee said crime traditionally spikes, is approaching. He said it is hard to predict, but maybe half of the vandalism might have been prevented with a full force.

"When you don't have people on shift, people know when you're here and not here," he said. "Our call volume dictates 24 hour service. You can't respond when no one is around."

The crimes are under investigation and Dunfee did not have further information on who might have been responsible or if all of the incidents were related.

Vandals broke into the middle school Thursday night and smashed windows in the cafeteria. The guidance office, teachers' cafeteria and band room were also broken into. Instruments and a laptop were stolen.

"Considerable damage was done to the second floor," WNESU Assistant Superintendent Catherine Davignon said. "We are still in the process of figuring what it will cost."

At least $2,500 in damage occurred at the middle school, according to police reports.

Davignon also said Bellows Falls would be safer with 24 hour police coverage. "I am very concerned with the police cuts," she said. "This is an affirmation that everyone in the village should be concerned too."

While the village trustees voted unanimously to cut the police force this year, and are including the same coverage in next year's budget, residents can vote to put the money back in the budget from the floor of the annual meeting.

At the trustees' meeting this week, village resident and Trustee candidate Jim Mitchell implored the board to reconsider the move.

Mitchell said seniors and families in the village who cannot speak up are the one most affected by the reduced police coverage. But trustee Luise Light on Thursday said the board had to do something to keep the tax rate down.

At last year's meeting, voters rejected the first budget, and a budget was only adopted after the trustees promised to do something about spending.

At 75 percent coverage, the police budget eats up more than half of the total village budget and Light said there is very little else that can be done to keep the tax rate down.

It will cost the village about $850,000 to fund the department next year.

"I don't think 100 percent coverage would have been able to stop something like that," Light said. "I think it was terrible and I wish it didn't happen, but I am not sure we could have avoided it."

The voters will be able to weigh in at the annual meeting.

Light stood by the board's decision, and said if taxpayers are willing to pay, then the police force could be expanded again to 100 percent coverage.

"It was a hard choice to make. We heard that we had to do something to make this village more livable. We heard that people were not able to pay their taxes," said Light. "But if the village residents tell us to cut something else and have a fuller police force we'll listen. This is not the responsibility of one group. We have to work together on this."