In a stinging criticism of the Buxton Police Department, an officer has resigned from the force to take a job in Westbrook.

“Elected officials have focused on conflict and personal gain,” Officer Christine A. LaBranche, 26, wrote in her strongly worded Oct. 28 resignation letter to selectmen. That created “circumstances that have dramatically and negatively affected our police force,” she said.

“The importance of public safety and professional well-being has been reduced indefinitely,” she wrote.

LaBranche was an officer with the Buxton department for five years. She started with the Westbrook Police Department Wednesday.

Town officials seemingly were at a loss to explain LaBranche’s criticism.

Selectman Bob Libby said Tuesday that he hoped to talk with LaBranche for an explanation.

“She has never spoken with us and never came in to complain,” Libby said. “I’ve read and thought it over and I have no idea where it comes from.”

“It’s the way she saw it,” Selectman Cliff Emery said Monday.

He pointed out another officer, Cpl. Kim Emery, had offered similar criticism in a resignation, but then retracted it and returned to duty.

LaBranche’s departure from Buxton further erodes its troubled police department, which has been plagued by resignations. Libby said the Buxton department has positions for eight full-time officers in addition to a chief. He said three other officers have resigned this year.

Cpl. Emery’s resignation followed the resignation of Chief Jody Thomas. At a July 30 meeting, Emery’s resignation letter was read.

“Over the past year the Buxton Police Department has encountered many changes that were not positive or in the best interest of the department. I feel my opportunities to succeed in the police department have been restricted and the department has been irrevocably damaged,” she wrote. “I can no longer work for a town who would allow personal vendettas to destroy the integrity of a well-respected and well-run police department, one that I proudly served until recently.”

Emery and Officer Mike Grovo have been leading the Buxton department during the search for a new chief, who could be chosen within the next two weeks.

The department has been without a chief since July, when Thomas stepped down after 16 years and was handed $46,000 in severance pay.

Thomas, who was narrowly defeated Tuesday in her bid for a seat on the Gorham Town Council, couldn’t be reached Tuesday and Wednesday for comment.

“It was a great loss to lose Chief Thomas. I’m looking forward to working here (Westbrook) and putting to work what I learned from her and Buxton Police Department,” LaBranche said Wednesday as she worked her first shift in the city.

She would not further elaborate or explain the comments she made in her resignation.

In the lobby of Westbrook Public Safety Wednesday, LaBranche said she’s excited about her new position.

“It’s very welcoming,” she said about her reception in Westbrook, but she declined additional comment about Buxton. “I want to leave it there.”

Capt. Tom Roth of the Westbrook Police Department Tuesday praised LaBranche as a well-experienced officer and Westbrook was looking forward to her starting duty. LaBranche graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 2006.

“She brings a lot of skills to the table,” Roth said.

Jean Harmon, chairwoman of Buxton selectmen, said Monday the board could announce its pick for a police chief within two weeks and expected a chief on duty by month’s end.

Harmon said 36 applicants applied for the chief’s job. Five candidates were interviewed, and a background check has been ordered on the search committee’s choice for the job.

Despite a police shortage and without a chief at the helm, service hasn’t been compromised, Harmon said.

“It’s a critical situation,” Harmon said, “but not lacking in response time.”

Libby said some officers are working overtime and reserve officers are helping. “You ring and someone will come and take care of the problem,” Libby said.

Harsh words, another resignation in Buxton