Debby Mayer is reporting in The Columbia Paper it likely that Germantown voters will be asked to weigh in on the town board's decision to abolish its police department. The board's August vote to put an end to the department is subject to a permissive referendum, and it now appears that a petition has been successfully circulated to force the matter to a vote, Mayer writes. According to the police department's former officer in charge, Brian DuBois, he collected 73 signatures, more than the 40 needed. “Community policing has worked wonders here, for a tiny cost,” said Tim Otty, a Germantown resident and one of two people who carried petitions with DuBois. He cited the local police patrolling the town’s parks and providing a presence at school games. “These are community police officers,” he said, “they’re not threatening. I’ve never heard anyone complain about them.” The Town Board decision came after it commissioned a report from Harry Corbitt, a former head of the State Police, who identified multiple problems with the two-person department and recommended that it be shut down. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.