SEABROOK — An attempt to dissolve the town's police force was shot down at Tuesday night's deliberative Town Meeting.
Albert "Max" Abramson made the motion to disband the police department by offering an amendment to the budget warrant article.
Abramson's amendment was to zero-out the police budget line item, and he sweetened the pot by offering to use the money saved to fund more than $2 million of town equipment and overtime for other departments, including buying a $750,000 ladder truck for the fire department.
Further, Abramson requested a secret ballot on his motion. After being chastised by a number of voters, Abramson's motion failed 63 to 3.
A frequent and vocal critic of the town's police officers, Abramson claimed its budget amounted to almost $5 million, when according to the proposed budget, the cost is about $3,742,000.
Abramson claimed taxpayers would save money by eradicating its police department but would not be giving up protection. He said law enforcement services when needed would be provided to Seabrook by the Rockingham County Sheriff's Department and the New Hampshire State Police.
But residents rose to defend their officers. Curtis Slayton said that in November, when gunfire sounded and six bullets pierced his home as his children slept, he dialed 911. An officer arrived within minutes, and multiple cruisers soon after. When the culprits were discovered nearby at a drinking party in Salisbury, Seabrook police worked with neighboring officers to quell the dangerous disturbance, he added.
"They acted professionally," Slayton said. "They took care of my family."
Budget Committee Chairwoman Paula Wood objected to Abramson's motion on two grounds. First, she said, Abramson's motion undermines the town's budgetary process. But with the town's traffic problems growing, she doubted the Rockingham County Sheriff's Department could manage.
Wood was referring to the issue local police deal with daily: the town's heavily traveled portion of Route 1, which hosts the largest retail sector south of Portsmouth. Seabrook has one of the busiest police departments on the Seacoast, and its 25 officers respond to dozens of calls a day, from domestic abuse to shoplifting, traffic accidents, home invasions and thefts, drug issues and bank robberies.
Seabrook police Chief Patrick Manthorn said thinking the county could fill in was unrealistic.
"The Rockingham County Sheriff's Department won't protect us 24Ñ7," Manthorn said. "Seabrook would be an open town for violence and crime."
But resident Jo-Anne Page, whose husband was a Seabrook patrolman for 32 years, said, "This looks to me like a personal vendetta from someone who has a problem with the police department."
Abramson is facing felony charges after a December 2010 incident at his home. After officers responded to a fight in progress at his Charles Henry Way home on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010, they arrested Abramson on charges of firing a handgun into the ceiling during a party. Abramson, who has a permit to carry a handgun, has not admitted to firing the handgun, but he defended his actions as simply trying to stop a fight.
Abramson, a Budget Committee member, claims the case is politically motivated. Seabrook police transferred the case to the Rockingham County Attorney's office to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, since Abramson is an elected town official.
Last May, the grand jury handed down indictments of felony reckless conduct charges for firing the gun and placing others in danger. If found guilty of a B felony, he faces from 31/2 to seven years in prison and a $4,000 fine for each charge.
Abramson's trial is scheduled to begin on March 12.
He has filed as a candidate for two positions in town, one uncontested, in the March 13 election.
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