Out in the field with Lebanon's finest

Maine State Trooper David Coflesky patrols on TM Wentworth Road on Friday. (Harrison Thorp photo)

ON PATROL IN LEBANON - It’s 10:20 a.m. and Trooper David Coflesky of the Maine State Police Troop A in Alfred is ready to call on an individual who claims her shrubs have been vandalized.

After interviewing the victim in this case for about 25 minutes he returns to the car and explains the woman had a good idea who the culprit was, but when Coflesky offered to interview the alleged perpetrator, the woman decided against it, saying to pursue the matter would just cause friction in the neighborhood.

It’s the beginning of another typical patrol in the 60-square-mile town of Lebanon. Neighbor disputes are among the biggest demands on his time, says Coflesky, who along with two other troopers are assigned to patrolling the streets of Lebanon.

He said many times people call and complain about what should be a civil matter, such as a boundary dispute.

“I can’t stand there and say who’s right, that’s up to a civil court,” he says as we cruise south down Center Road. While driving he points out a dashboard radar system that emits a high whine if it detects a speeding vehicle. As we pass motorists coming in the opposite direction he scans for seat belt violators.

Coflesky can modify the radar so it can detect both oncoming and same-way traffic.

If the whirring sound is lower it means the car is going slower than Coflesky. If the whirring sound is higher it means they’re going faster.

Maine State Police began taking over full-time coverage of Lebanon back in March. Since then Troopers Coflesky and two other troopers spend the majority of their hours in Lebanon, assisted occasionally by other troopers who patrol in nearby jurisdictions.

Not long after we’re out on Route 202 heading west back toward Rochester, Coflesky detects a car heading east with two occupants, neither of whom are wearing a seat belt.

“We’re going after a seat belt violation,” he says as he makes a quick U-turn and heads east after the vehicle at full throttle. He closes to within a half-mile and turns on the blue lights, which automatically triggers two cameras, one a dashcam and one on the vehicle’s exterior. A split second after the blues go on, a brown sedan with New Hampshire plates pulls quickly over to the shoulder.

As we stop, we can see the occupants have their seat belts on. Coflesky smiles at the attempted deception. He radios in the stop, gets out of the cruiser, dons his hard-brim trooper hat and walks toward the car. Within five minutes he’s back with the driver’s and passenger’s license, and the car’s registration. Smiling again.

“They admitted they’d put them on after I spotted him,” he says. “That was honest of them.”

Then he turns on the MDS (Mobil Data System), which is basically a laptop loaded with law enforcement software. 

The two licenses and registration come back clean, except for a seat belt summons on the driver. Coflesky gives them both a break. Just a written warning.

The first-offense fine for a seat belt violation in Maine is about $70. The second is about $160.

Afterward, the trooper catches up on some paperwork inside the cruiser, using the MDS to update his activity report and log his stops.

Between the MDS and its interfacing printer, the radar, and lights and siren equipment, the front seat of the cruiser is pretty well spoken for.

In the trunk Coflesky has additional gear, including a crime scene processing kit, gloves, extra ammo, a mobile fingerprinting kit, a haz-mat suit, gas mask, an AR-1F rifle, spike mats and full riot gear.

As we head down River Road toward Spaulding Pond, Coflesky said he likes working in Lebanon and he thinks the State Police are making a difference. He thinks seat belt usage is up, speeding is down and hopes the recent lull in accidents along Route 202 is more of a trend than an aberration.

Coflesky said troopers monitor the River Road area closely. It is a high crime area, mostly because criminals think they can execute a robbery and then get back over into New Hampshire before Maine Troopers have a chance to react, Coflesky said.

He said he likes getting to know the town residents and gathering “intel” from folks he meets during patrols that might help him and his fellow troopers put a greater dent into the town’s crime figures. He said one area of concern is ongoing drug activity in some areas of the Spaulding Pond neighborhood off Indian Lake Drive.

He said police are aware of it, and they are taking steps to curtail it, but it’s not easy.

He said it’s just a matter of getting that extra bit of information that they can give to a judge to get that all-important search warrant.

As we cruise through the neighborhood this day we spy a few cars with New Hampshire plates parked outside homes, but other than that, all is quiet, so we head back down River Road to Route 202 and stop at the Lebanon Rescue Building.

From here, Coflesky said it’s easy to watch for speeders, seat-belt violators and expired inspection stickers on cars going both east and west.

Here he’ll wait a bit for his next call. With Lebanon calling in well over 200 requests for service a month, it likely won’t be long.