It should come as no surprise but public service employees in Maine are struggling to meet staff demands according to a report from the Lincoln County News.

Many town along the mid-coast are feeling the pinch. They have full-time police departments but staffing up n down the coast and inland too are suffering from a shortage of police officers.

When departments like Wiscasset and Waldoboro are doing they're best to provide adequate coverage 24/7, sometimes they have to get creative, there can be coverage gaps. Sometimes that may mean an on-call model, other times the coverage may have to come from other departments, at a cost o time, and money to have supplied since it can't always provide the staffing in-department.

The Chief of police in Damariscotta calls it "a crisis". Some offices are already pushing it to the limits working 6-70 hours per week. There are more calls coming in, and more arrests taking place but the staffing shortage is truly taking its toll.

Currently 67 cadets just graduated from the MCJA, and yet there are 140 requests for only 70 slots available in the next class.

Time will tell if this "crisis" will find a remedy, in the meantime, understand that most departments are doing the best they can, with the resources they have available.

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