New Police Department Command Structure Approved

At its meeting on August 2, 2022, the City Council unanimously approved a recommendation by Police Chief Craig Andersen to substantially reorganize the command structure of the Sanford Police Department.

Chief Andersen told the Council that the SPD’s command structure hasn’t changed much since he started with the agency in 1988. At that time, it was led by the Chief, with the Deputy Chief and Captain reporting to him. The Captain position was eliminated during the last recession leaving the Department with just two leaders for ten years, until the second Deputy Chief position was added last year. This stagnation in the command structure has not supported the SPD well over the past twelve years, he said, and has led to inefficiency and waste; degradation of skills and abilities; lapses in policy, oversight and accountability; and increased liability.

He explained how the work required of the Department’s leadership has changed dramatically in recent years. “What we do today is far different than what we did in 1989…our frontline supervisors are doubled up and tripled up with responsibilities. We have seen evidence this is impeding their primary tasks.” For example, at this time Deputy Chief Tim Strout is spending 90% of his time working on the Maine Law Enforcement Accreditation Program for the Department, while Chief Andersen spends many hours each week processing requests under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. FOAA was enacted as a state law in 2011, and has created increasingly more and more work for the Police Department since then.

The new command structure will replace one of the Deputy Chief positions with a civilian Professional Development and Property Manager beginning about January 2023. This position will be responsible for MLEAP as well as compliance, property and evidence, and will report directly to the Chief. At the same time, a new position of Major in charge of Support and Logistics will be created to report to the Deputy Chief. The responsibilities of this position will include vehicle maintenance and acquisition, internal and background investigations, as well as social media, body cameras and elder services. This position will have some supervisory responsibilities as well.

In July of 2023, a second Major will be added to the Department, in charge of Patrol Operations, whose responsibilities will include patrol scheduling, online reporting, equipment maintenance, traffic and interfacing with the Department of Corrections. This position will oversee the majority of the patrol force. The addition of this Major will enable the Deputy Chief to focus on payroll, grant proposals, in-service training, citizen complaints, hiring and recruitment, and other tasks. The duties of the Chief will be focused on budgeting, FOAA, interfacing with community groups and the City Council, the Special Response Team, officer wellness and internships.

At some point in this restructuring process, the Department’s Court Officer will transition from a sworn officer to a civilian position. The complete restructuring chart is shown below.

The restructuring will have no impact on the current year’s operating budget.

Chief Andersen told the Council the mission of the Sanford Police Department is to provide excellent law enforcement service. The SPD has had very lengthy mission statements in the past, but it has now been pared down to its essence, so that each member of the Department can always keep it in mind when responding to every call. While it is a simple statement, he said accomplishing it is a continuous effort requiring the introduction of new ideas, techniques and technology, as well as the evaluation and evolution of current practices. He described the process as a constantly repeating loop of implement, train, and sustain.

He told the Sanford Springvale News that, although it represents an expansion of the current command structure, the new command structure is essentially the same as that used by the York Police, which is a much smaller Department, and other Police Departments.