Is the Vineyard over-policed? The subject comes up frequently — in conversations at dinner parties and at annual town meeting time each year, when voters are asked to spend money on new cruisers and ever-expanding budgets for six town police departments.

The answer depends entirely on your point of view.

But here are the facts.

There are currently 109 full-time sworn officers in Dukes County, Martha’s Vineyard and the town of Gosnold.

There are 60 full-time officers in the six Vineyard town police departments (Gosnold has none). The Massachusetts State Police barracks, headquartered in Oak Bluffs, has five full-time officers.

Dukes County sheriff Michael McCormack is the official head of law enforcement on the Island. His department has 44 full-time sworn personnel. The sheriff’s department manages the communications center (911), the county jail, prisoner transportation and the drug information bureau. According to Mr. McCormack, one officer patrols county beaches by boat in the summer, supporting the town harbor masters. Another works part time on a tactical response task force.

On a national scale there were 2.6 state and local sworn officers per thousand population in 2004, using the latest census bureau population and USA bureau of justice personnel estimates.

The New England average is 2.6, and 2.2 for cities with a population between 10,000 and 25,000.

Directly comparing these numbers to those of the Vineyard is problematic, due in part to fluctuating population numbers. The year-round population for the Vineyard, according to the census bureau is 15,882, an annually updated estimate based on the 2000 census. Meanwhile, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission provides an estimate of 70,000 for the summer population, using such tallies as electricity bills, rentals and harbor master mooring receipts.

But for the year-round population there are 6.9 sworn officers per thousand.

For the summer population, the numbers are too difficult to calculate because some towns hire summer officers for fluctuating periods of time.

State police department station commander Neil Maciel confirmed that his barracks employs at least five officers at any one time. “It fluctuates somewhat,” he said, adding that he was not comfortable giving out specific numbers. Unlike town police departments, the Vineyard state police barracks is limited by available state resources. “We could always use more help,” added Mr. Maciel.

Each town has its own numbers and staffing methods for dealing with the summer population spike.

The Tisbury police department has 12 full-time police officer slots. Chief John Cashin is currently working with 11 but is conducting a job search to fill the open position, employing a special officer in the interim. Chief Cashin does not bring in summer officers, outside of traffic personnel.

“Speaking for my town there’s no question we could be more efficient and effective with more officers,” said the chief. “A comparison to other towns and counties is unfair. To say there are too many police I have to say is quite absurd from an insider’s perspective. The prevailing thought of what we do is from TV and movies and since there’s little dramatic crime going on the Island, people assuming we’re walking around with nothing to do. A lot of what we deal with may not be exciting, so people don’t hear about it much.”

Chief Cashin added that staff that might otherwise be on patrol are often diverted by administration duties, from transporting evidence to court to mandatory training, which can take officers off the Island.

“There’s an awful lot going on the public may not even be aware of. One person is a big percentage of the staff,” he said.

As the main port town for the Island, Tisbury is especially affected in the summer from a law enforcement perspective, Mr. Cashin said.

“In the summer there’s a lot quality of life issues. More nuisances than serious crimes but we do see an upswing in larcenies. Most of the time we’re fortunate that it’s not crime against people but against property,” he said.

The Chilmark police department employs four full-time officers, including chief Timothy Rich. In the summer the chief supplements this staff with five more full-time officers and four traffic officers, who do not have the power to arrest.

“Sometimes you don’t have enough and other times people are sitting around,” Chief Rich said. “If we had a stable population the department would be able to reflect on the needs year-round.”

Chief Rich said he is able to employ on a seasonal basis.

“I’ve been fortunate, I’ve got really good people,” he said, adding that all his summer employees are either graduates or students studying criminal justice. The system is not without its problems, though.

“There’s been times the number of applicants has not been sufficient and you don’t want to lower your standards,” he said. “You’ve got to spend 120 hours training for just two months.”

The summer season is getting shorter, he added.

“The shoulder seasons used to be busier, I don’t really know why,” he said. “Those people who used to spend longer here perhaps now have kids in school so by the time Labor Day comes it’s wrapped up. But that’s a shot in the dark.”

The different seasons bring separate law enforcement concerns, the chief said.

“The winter brings domestic issues — drugs, break-ins. In the summer those houses are occupied and there are less break-ins. But there are traffic congestion and parking issues and motor vehicle accidents. And domestic issues too. Just because they’re on vacation it doesn’t mean people don’t quarrel,” he said.

Edgartown employs 15 year-round officers, five summer special officers and three year-round specials.

Oak Bluffs employs 14 year-round officers and 10 seasonal or special officers.

West Tisbury employs 10 full-time officers and 10 special officers.

Aquinnah employs three full-time police officers and two special officers.

Violent crime rates on Island are low; the Dukes County Superior Court, which holds two sessions a year, handled 14 criminal cases last year compared with 75 civil disputes.

The Edgartown district court handles more than 1,000 cases each year, including motor vehicle infractions, petty crimes and misdemeanors and drunk driving cases.

Of course, none of this means police are idle.

Clerk of courts Joseph E. Sollitto Jr. worked weekends as an Oak Bluffs police officer in the late 1960s and early 1970s while at law school. He said he thinks the Island chiefs do a very good job of staffing, particularly in the face of the summer population hike.

“It’s a bit more complicated than people might think at first brush, they have three shifts a day seven days a week. You need to staff 24/7. Some people need vacation, they work five days a week, so you have to cover that. ” he said. “You gear up for that population change and with the influx of people you need to be flexible.”

As for any perception that the Island has more police than it needs, Mr. Sollitto said:

“If you didn’t have them people would complain: ‘It took them 25 minutes to get to me.’ They respond very quickly here.”