Cumberland County, Maine
Cumberland County · Portland is the seat · Augusta is the capital · the bay is not the State
The harbor is not the capital
Cumberland is a geographic county whose county government still sits. It is a charter county: treasurer and register of deeds are appointed. Voters still elect commissioners and a Sheriff. Municipal police, fire, schools, and trash remain city and town services — including on the islands.
Portland is the seat and the largest city in Maine. It is not the capital. Augusta is. South Portland is a different city. Brunswick is this county, not Sagadahoc. Bridgton is this county, not Oxford.
This page is Side One civic teaching. The Sheriff’s job is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Cumberland County.
Casco, Sebago, and inland towns on one map
Casco Bay, the Calendar Islands as the towns actually sit, Sebago Lake country, and the I-95 / 302 inland towns are one county. A nor’easter here is a cancelled ferry and a County Way generator. A January freeze in Bridgton is not a Portland waterfront. There is ocean on this map. That does not make this the capital county.
Charter politics, elected Sheriff, 2026
SOS 27 February 2026 table: Cumberland treasurer and deeds appointed. Sheriff 2026. Commissioners mixed. Do not read an appointed-deeds fact as an appointed Sheriff. Confirm on the SOS table and county site.
How a Casco public actually reaches a desk
Courts sit in Portland. Each city and town has its own site. Island towns have ferry clocks. A student looks at official employment pages — city, town, county, Sheriff — not a campaign site. cumberlandso.org is the Sheriff, not Portland Police.
Custody, courts, papers, island rights
Crime and fire are city and town. Jail and civil process are the Sheriff. Prosecution is District 2. Remedy for a Portland Police issue is that city’s door. Remedy for a jail issue is County Way. Relief when the ferry dies is mutual aid plus the State. Service of a paper is still a person on Chebeague after the boat. Equal protection does not shrink because a town is an island.
Place snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: Maine · Seat: Portland · Capital of Maine: Augusta (Kennebec)
- Land: Casco Bay, islands, Sebago towns
- Sheriff: elected, four-year, SOS 2026 · County Way
- Charter: treasurer and deeds appointed
- Look up official Cumberland County / Sheriff sites
What this is not
- Not the capital. Not Kennebec. Not York. Not Androscoggin.
- Not Portland Police. Not District 2 as a county department.
- Not a campaign flyer.