BANGOR, Maine — By the end of May, the Bangor Police Department plans to position a full-time walking beat officer in downtown Bangor full time, a method the department hopes will help mitigate some of the issues community members and business owners are experiencing in the area.
Downtown business owner Dan Meek said he has owned his shop Knapp's Music Center since 1999. There, he fixes guitars, pianos, and a slew of other instruments.
As skilled as he is at repairing instruments, Meek said he can't fix the issues present in downtown Bangor.
"I've seen people walk down the street, and you can tell that people are totally out of it," Meek said. "Inebriated on drugs. I've seen people walking down the street screaming to themselves and hollering at traffic."
Managing the impacts of drug use and homelessness in downtown Bangor is far more difficult than repairing instruments, Meek explained.
Bangor Police Department Sgt. Jason McAmbley says although there aren't incidents of violent crime occurring in the area, he understands people's concerns.
"We've got people that are drinking in the parks, that are using drugs in the park, that are being loud, boisterous, obnoxious," McAmbley said. "Disorderly conduct is probably the heaviest crime that we would see."
Meek said frequent disturbances in the area discourage people from spending time and money in downtown.
"They're concerned about coming downtown," Meek said. "They're not as comfortable. They're constantly having people come up to them trying to bum money, bum a cigarette, bum this or bum that."
The department used to have a walking beat officer stationed downtown from 2013 to 2021, but McAmbley said the position was cut due to staffing issues.
Now with the beat returning, McAmbley said he hopes positioning a police officer downtown will give the community peace of mind and lessen some of the damaging impacts of drugs that he and others see in the community.
"The downtown community has wanted it for a number of years since it went away," he said.
Meek said he and other business owners have had several instances where people have caused commotion downtown. He said one morning during the winter, he found someone sleeping in the entry doorway to his shop when he came in.
Unsure about whether the person was conscious or under the influence of drugs, Meek said he called the police. He said the automated system used to report non-emergencies was confusing and explained that he thinks it would be helpful if people could speak to a real person when they're reporting concerns.
Meek also said being able to call an officer who can respond to concerns in the area quickly would be a game changer.
According to McAmbley, the downtown on-foot officer will have a phone with him or her at all times that people will be able to call.