BY COLIN HICKEY

Staff Writer

The days of territorial law enforcement are over.

Faced with limited resources, police departments and the sheriff's office in the area have come to embrace regional cooperation and collaboration.

The latest example is the Greater Waterville Area Major Crimes Unit.

Formed this month, the unit is an effort to make the fastest and most strategic use of law enforcement officers in four communities, as well as Kennebec County Sheriff's Office deputies, to respond to serious crimes and traffic accidents.

Waterville, Winslow, Oakland and Fairfield are the police departments involved in the initiative.

Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty said the Major Crimes Unit essentially turns five police agencies -- and the various skills, expertise and equipment each has -- into one regional unit.

"You control all the resources that enable you to really bring a force to bear on the problem," Liberty said.

Liberty said this is critical given that not every department has a canine unit or a dive team. The number of detectives can vary significantly from agency to agency as well, he said.

Yet, when a major crime occurs manpower and time is of the essence, Liberty said.

He pointed to a home invasion that occurred this May in Pittston as an example. Within 72 hours, he said, police agencies in the area had cooperated to put 12 detectives on the case.

"We were able to make quick arrests as a result," Liberty said.

In other cases, the need might be for a canine unit or an officer with an expertise or skill most in the law enforcement community don't possess.

The Major Crimes Unit then is a dynamic body, one likely to consist of a different mix of officers every time it is called into action.

Waterville Police Chief Joseph P. Massey said giving a formal designation to the initiative -- one that includes a memo of understanding -- provides a recognition and structure to the effort that makes such cooperation more efficient.

Its formation is hardly unexpected.

Police departments in the area and Kennebec Sheriff's Office already have regional units for illegal drug and underage drinking enforcement. They also share information to a much greater degree than ever before thanks in large part to a public safety software system -- called IMC for Information Management Corporation -- that gives quick access to all manner of important police records.

Just last month Waterville, Oakland, Fairfield and Winslow police got together at Robert A. LaFleur Municipal Airport in Waterville to hold emergency vehicle operation training -- training most officers in the area hadn't received since their days at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

No single department had the resources to invest in sending officers to school to become a certified instructor. But together they were able to access the grant needed to send four officers to Maryland to obtain the certification.

District Attorney Evert Fowle is impressed with the cooperative efforts of the law enforcement community.

"This is a home-grown effort," he said. "I was not involved in the formation (of the Greater Waterville Area Major Crimes Unit), but I am going to support it with every resource in my office."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com