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There are already signs of progress. In the past couple of years, Project Canopy, a state-funded community forestry program, built the small park next to St. Andre's Church at the south end of Bacon Street. The city removed eight dump-truck loads of trash from the lot on Foav Court last fall and plans to build a playground on what is now a muddy lot on Pierson's Lane. Police Chief [Roger Beaupre] said his department has stepped up patrols in recent years to coincide with neighborhood events such as dinners at St. Andre's. He said that the Bacon Street neighborhood has improved greatly in the past 10 years and that there are other sections of Biddeford where police receive far more complaints. Staff photos by Jack Milton Marion Harrison, a 13-year resident of Bacon Street in Biddeford, says that her door has been kicked in three times and that the neighborhood is noisy at night. City officials are holding a meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at St. Andre's Church to discuss the problems. The Bacon Street neighborhood has gained a reputation for vandalism and other misbehavior, but Biddeford's police chief says it has improved in the last decade.

The chief said that police lowered their threshold for speeding violations on Hills Beach Road, which runs through the UNE campus, last fall when the department posted signs designating the campus a strictly enforced area. [Roger Beaupre] said he thought the meeting was productive, and one result of the discussion was that he petitioned the state to simplify the multiple speed zones along Route 9 near UNE into a single 45 mph zone. He said he hadn't heard complaints from students since then. In one recent instance, in which an officer ticketed a UNE student for slightly exceeding the speed limit, a supervisor tore up the ticket and reprimanded the officer, Beaupre said.

\"Female bears in search of their cubs can be extremely aggressive and should be reported to the state police,\" Sgt. Roger Beaupre said. \"They should not be approached in any manner.\" Shortly after the accident, the cub's mother reappeared on the road with the second cub. \"She was aggressive,\" Beaupre said. Beaupre emphasized that residents should immediately report any bear sightings to the East Granby resident state trooper's office at 860-535-5385 or to the DEP at 800-424-3333.

Traffic was diverted from the state's busiest north-south highway for much of Tuesday after a propane truck rolled over on I--91 north, snarling traffic on side roads as crews worked on the crippled truck. 2 COLOR / TIA ANN CHAPMAN / THE HARTFORD COURANT; MAP: 1 B&W / THE HARTFORD COURANT; (PHOTO 1) FIREFIGHTERS FROM ROCKY HILL , Cromwell, Middletown, Durham, Newington and Wethersfield, below, respond to a highway crash Tuesday morning between a car and a tanker truck carrying propane, which landed on its side. The accident occurred between exits 22 and 23 on I-91 north. The drivers suffered only minor injuries, but the highway was shut down until 5:30 p.m. (PHOTO 2) In photo above, vehicles stand gridlocked on I-91 north at the start of the evening rush hour.; MAP: Accident shuts down I-91 north for most of day

The state's satisfaction with this car exists despite that it has also been the source of considerable controversy of late, thanks to more than a dozen police officers (including one here in Connecticut) dying over the past 15 years when their parked CVPIs were rear-ended by vehicles moving at high speeds. These collisions ruptured the Interceptor's fuel tank (located between the rear axle and rear bumper), causing a fatal fire. But Ford points out that these incidents have occurred at extremely high speeds and has added additional shielding to the tanks of CVPIs to make them less likely to rupture during extreme impact. The automaker is adamant that the car has no inherent design defects, and is as safe as it can possibly be given the circumstances of the accidents. \"We've had relatively good luck with this car,\" comments Connecticut State Police public affairs officer Sgt. Paul Vance. \"We're comfortable with its safety, and at the same time always welcome any new technology that may come along to better protect our troopers in extreme situations. We stay vigilant, and watch what happens with other Crown Vics across the country and have representation at a committee at Ford that works on the police package to constantly improve it.\" One area of controversy in the use of nontraditional police cars is the public's fear that that cop may not be a cop at all, but somebody posing as one in order to rob or assault the hapless motorist when they pull over. New York and a few other states won't use these cars because of this fear, but here in Connecticut the key is training and procedure. And a motorist in doubt can always proceed to a safe public area before stopping, as the troopers are aware they might be spooked.

The $100,000 simulator that [Roger Beaupre] sampled - one of two recently unveiled by Connecticut State Police - is law enforcement's answer to the flight simulator. Unlike the limited simulators used in driver-ed courses, these machines feel real, allowing officers to train for such white-knuckle tasks as high-speed pursuits without wearing down real cruisers. GE has contracts with nearly 40 police departments, and upstate Binghamton-based Doron Precision Systems says it has more than 100 simulators in police departments worldwide. FAAC Inc., a longtime military supplier of combat simulators, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has simulators in fewer than a dozen departments. AP Photo - Connecticut State Police Lt. Col. Ralph Carpenter, left, works through a simulated exercise involving a drunk driver, as Trooper 1st Class Kathleen Henry looks on.

The $100,000 simulator that [Roger Beaupre] sampled -- one of two recently unveiled by Connecticut State Police -- is law enforcement's answer to the flight simulator, a decades-old tech tool designed to save lives. Unlike the limited simulators used in driver-education courses, these hopped-up machines feel real, allowing officers to train for such white-knuckle tasks as high-speed pursuits without wearing down real cruisers. GE has contracts with nearly 40 police departments, and Binghamton, N.Y.-based Doron Precision Systems says it has more than 100 simulators in police departments worldwide. FAAC Inc., a longtime military supplier of combat simulators based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has simulators in fewer than a dozen departments.

\"It was a professionally conducted motor vehicle stop,\" [Roger Beaupre] said. \"But there were a number of things that indicated to this woman that he was not a police officer. He had no identification and was very evasive about who he was with.\" Beaupre said all state troopers must present an identification card with their picture on it -- that is issued by the state police - - upon request by the public. Troopers in plainclothes must call in a uniformed officer if someone requests that.

State police will be on patrol in both marked and unmarked cars, and also in nontraditional cars, such as Chevrolet Impalas, police said. They will also use aircraft, radar and laser units to enforce speed limits and set up sobriety checkpoints and roving patrols looking for drunken drivers. Police ask anyone who sees a drunken driver to call 911. State police typically make more than 2,800 arrests over the four- day Thanksgiving weekend for speeding, drunken driving and traffic violations. Last year, there were 76 accidents and two fatalities.

Police in West Haven said an officer responding on foot to a burglar alarm arrived in time to see the Jeep speeding away. The burglar ignored the officer's order to stop and fled. The officer was able to get the Jeep's license plate number, West Haven police Lt. Harry Molyneaux said. Shortly afterward, the Jeep was reportedly involved in a hit- and-run with a pedestrian at the intersection of Lombard and Clinton streets in New Haven's Fairhaven neighborhood. An officer at the scene chased the Jeep but the driver again refused to stop, said New Haven police Sgt. Craig Guglielmo.