Jeff Lange, currently interim police chief in Paris, Maine, will begin his tenure as Wiscasset Police Chief on May 23.

“I’ve always loved the coast,” Lange said. “I’ve vacationed on the Maine coast all my life.” Lange said he’s spent a lot of time in Boothbay Harbor as well as further up the coast, in Bar Harbor. “I’m looking forward to living there.”

He said he loves sailing, and used to sail quite a bit, but doesn’t currently have a sailboat. “Yet,” he said.

He’s currently looking for a home in Wiscasset, he said. His daughters live with their mother in New York, so he’ll be on his own. “I’ve always been a dog person,” he said. “I’ve never had the time to dedicate to a dog, but I’m hoping that will change in Wiscasset.”

Lange said that he is most interested in community policing. “I’ve brought lots of community policing to my work in Paris,” he said. He talked about the Western Maine Addiction Task Force, which he began, as well as Project SaveME, a program similar to the nascent Lincoln County Operation HOPE, based on the Gloucester, Massachusetts model of pairing community “angels” with those suffering from substance abuse and helping them get treatment. He was very pleased that a similar program was beginning in Lincoln County, and said that he would like Wiscasset Police Department to play a role in the program. “There would be no questions asked, as long as the individual doesn’t have an outstanding warrant,” he said.

In addition, he has put together a program called SALT — Seniors and Law Together, that educates seniors about issues of abuse, fraud, and other legal concerns targeting the elderly.  He also began an Internet Exchange Location Program, for people who purchase items off the internet, such as eBay or Craig’s List, but want to keep their home address private and would prefer to meet where the police are keeping an eye on the exchange.  He is planning to do similar programs here, as well as beginning a program called “Coffee with a Cop,” which brings citizens and police together in something other than the police’s professional capacity. “We should be getting out and letting people get to know who we are as people,” he said.

Lange said he is leaving Paris for a number of reasons, but primarily, because of the uncertainty surrounding the police department itself. “I’ve been interim chief since April of 2015,” he said, “and the Board of Selectmen aren’t making it permanent, because they’ve put it to the voters to decide whether or not to keep the police department at all.” If the citizens decide in the upcoming vote to do away with the police department, Oxford County will patrol the town of Paris instead. Lange said that the issue is controversial, and many want to keep the police department, but no one will know until the vote later this year.

Lange said that he wants citizens of Wiscasset to know that he will maintain an open-door policy. “If you want to come in, you’re welcome. We’ll have a cup of coffee and some good conversation,” he said.