BELLOWS FALLS-If approved by town Selectboard and Village Trustees, the Bellows Falls Police Department could begin a 90-day trial program this month, expanding police coverage to include the entire town of Rockingham.
Due to insufficient budgets and resulting understaffing, local officials found that the Vermont State Police are able to respond “only to the most serious incidents in rural Windham County,” said Rockingham Selectboard Chair Rick Cowan. “For years, rural Rockingham residents have been coming to the Selectboard seeking a law enforcement presence to address speeding and property crimes.”
In rural Rockingham, the Windham County Sheriff’s Office holds two contracts for police coverage: one for the village of Saxtons River for about eight hours a month, and a more recent one for Rockingham.
But the decision to instead investigate expanding the coverage area of the Bellows Falls Police Department came from Windham County Sheriff Mark Anderson himself.
The Rockingham Selectboard invited Anderson to meet with them this past summer “to discuss possible participation in his regional law enforcement pilot program that was recently endorsed by the Legislature and governor via S.255,” said Cowan.
Sheriff Anderson “candidly explained that since there’s already a police force in our town, it didn’t make sense for us to join his program,” Cowan said. “He recommended employing the Bellows Falls police department as the most cost-effective approach.”
Following Anderson’s advice, Cowan said that “we began conversations with the Bellows Falls trustees and Bellows Falls Police Chief David Bemis.”
He noted that “Village President Wendy Levy and Municipal Manager Aaron Patt played key roles in developing the plan” from which the pilot program emerged.
“To me it makes perfect sense for Bellows Falls to work with the town for the Bellows Falls police to cover the entire town of Rockingham,” Levy said. She added that the BF officers “know the area. There is no ‘us and them.’ If you live in Bellows Falls, you live in Rockingham.”
Levy noted that last May at the Village Meeting, village voters overwhelmingly approved turning over ownership of the fire and police department building on Rockingham Street to the town. That deed was transferred earlier this month.
This follows the consolidation of the town’s three fire departments into one Rockingham Fire Department, a controversial move that was overwhelmingly approved by voters at the 2025 Annual Town Meeting.
Police confident that coverage won’t be compromised
During the 90-day trial period, Cowan said, the town will pay the Bellows Falls Police Department to provide limited coverage to rural areas and Saxtons River.
“A rate of $55 per hour has been set for the trial period,” he said. “This pilot program will provide us with data to inform future decisions.”
The town of Rockingham is 42 square miles with a population estimated at around 4,700, with about 57%, or around 2,800, living in the village of Bellows Falls.
The Bellows Falls Police Department has 13 staff members, including administrative and dispatch staff, along with seven full-time and three part-time officers.
Bemis met with the Rockingham Selectboard and the village trustees of Bellows Falls and Saxtons River at a tri-board meeting on Oct. 1 to discuss the trial proposal.
Bemis said current staffing would be adequate to cover the town without compromising coverage in the village. He said that they are looking at 110 hours of policing in Rockingham, trying to “allot it equally week to week” over the three months.
But he told the boards that time spent will fluctuate “according to need,” and in “response to complaints.”
Bemis told the boards that his department was prepared to roll out the program “in early October” once the boards agreed to the proposal. He said his officers “were looking forward to” the expanded coverage.
Other officers at the meeting agreed with Bemis, who noted that the trial plan will give the force greater latitude in dealing with “issues outside of the village that come back into the village” as problems.
“I’m heartened by our slow progress on the question of shared police services beyond the village,” said Selectboard member Amy Howlett. “The BF Trustees and the Selectboard have discussed the project over a series of meetings, before the agreement was signed.”
The police pilot program “will clarify risks and benefits to covering the town, both the concentrated population of Bellows Falls and the rest of the area,” Howlett said. It will provide data on calls, time, and mileage, and it will show “the impact on criminal activity that occurs now beyond the current borders of BF.”
Meeting attendee Deb Wright, who has served in several local government positions, questioned if service to the village would be impacted while the pilot program was ongoing. Bemis stated that his force will have the personnel to cover Bellows Falls situations while also serving Rockingham.
“Chief Bemis welcomes the opportunity to expand his operational area and explained how the patrols wouldn’t compromise coverage of the village,” Cowan said. “He described how many law enforcement incidents affecting the village occur just outside the village limits.”
Levy said that expanding the Bellows Falls police department to cover all of Rockingham was the result of many board discussions and said she was “glad the conversations went smoothly. Almost everyone thought it was a good idea.”
She said that now it was mainly “down to signing the agreement.”
The Rockingham Selectboard will likely approve the proposal at its Tuesday, Oct. 6 meeting, after this newspaper has gone to press, and by the Bellows Falls Village Trustees when they meet on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Levy said she liked the idea of the village working more closely with the town.
“We work better when we work together,” she said.
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.