I recently spoke to a fellow resident of Clinton before the July 14 special town meeting. The man was attending the meeting to express his overall dissatisfaction with the Clinton Police Department.

His solution was to eliminate the police department and replace officers with 30 security cameras mounted on light poles. It was unclear who would monitor the security footage, and how outlying residents would be protected. In addition, he recommended one resource officer stationed at Town Hall who would use a remote-controlled flying drone to track reported suspects and offenders. It was unclear what the drone would do with the suspect once located. Laser beam, perhaps?

Clinton has more than 2,000 registered voters, but only 300 voters turned out recently and narrowly defeated the code enforcement and police department budgets. The police department budget will be reconsidered during a special town meeting vote on Aug. 18.

I urge Clinton residents to get out and vote. We should support the police in continuing their crime-prevention efforts and their professional interventions. We can do better than trusting our community safety to those who promote enforcement by remote-controlled drones.

Patricia Theriault

Clinton

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