SKOWHEGAN — Until about a year ago, police officers were leaving the Skowhegan Police Department at an alarming rate. That problem has vanished as the department now has its full complement of 15 officers for the first time in more than a decade.
Sgt. Joel Cummings, with 25-plus years on the job in Skowhegan, said it could be the new police chief, Don Bolduc, who came to town three years ago and took over as chief in September, who made the difference.
Skowhegan PD Roseter
Current roster and call numbers for the Skowhegan Police Department, which is up to its full compliment of 15 officers for the first time in a decade:
100 Chief Don Bolduc
101 Deputy chief – vacant
102 Sgt. Joel Cummings
103 Sgt. Herb Oliver
104 Sgt. Don Avery
105 Det /Sgt. Josh King
106 Det. Kelly Hooper
107 Det. Katelyn Treylino
108 David Daigneault/school resource officer
109 Tim Williams
110 Michael Bachelder
111 Christopher Viera
112 Ryan Blakeney
113 James Gordon
114 William Kulakowski
115 Jacob Boudreau
116 Kyle Haseltine/ hospital resource officer
“I think the new leadership that he offered was recognized; the new contract was attractive and we actually pulled some people back who had left us,” Cummings, 52, said. “Those things in a combination – he had everyone’s respect and they knew he was going to have their backs. It was a lot of little things.
“He’s a leader by example. We all saw the potential of Don as chief. We as patrolmen were not seeing what we needed from a chief, Chief (Ted) Blais, at that time. I don’t remember the last time we had a full complement.”
Skowhegan Town Manager Christine Almand said the Police Department budget is designed for 15 full-time police officers and a police chief. The departmental budget approved this month by voters at Town Meeting was $1.34 million, up from $1.28 million the previous year.
“I believe that the Board of Selectmen and the police chief have made changes to improve the Police Department for the officers that have served our community for many years as well as our newer members,” Almand said. “A couple years ago, areas of the budget associated with training were doubled. A good training program is important in order to provide basic as well as specialized training that helps to encourage the officers to advance their skills and knowledge, which provides a better service to the community.”
Almand said selectmen last year approved a contract with significant pay increases. The board also approved a Tuition Student Incentive Program that was presented by then-Chief Blais and is still in place. The program is used to assist with recruitment.
Bolduc also has introduced a naloxone hydrochloride, or Narcan, program to be used by police officers on people with opioid-related drug overdoses and has promised a review of the department’s policy on dealing with the media.
“Chief Bolduc is the type of leader that values the input of his officers,” she said. “I am encouraged by the fact that we are full staff. We have an excellent team with a vibrant energy.”
UNDERSTAFFED, OVERBURDENED
Department woes date back at least to 2007, when a five-week study of law enforcement needs determined that the department was understaffed and overburdened. An advisory group recommended that a town the size of Skowhegan, with a population of about 9,000, should have 15-person police force.
The committee relied on statistics from the department, information from a 1989 study by the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, a review of Uniform Crime Reports data, interviews of department personnel and a 2004 needs study by former chief Butch Asselin, according to a 2007 report in the Morning Sentinel.
The situation began to hit bottom in February or March 2015, when six police officers and a detective either quit or went to a different agency to work, Cummings said.
“The low point was August or September of last year, when we were down to seven people,” said Bolduc, 51. “I took over Sept. 2.”
Blais, the former public safety director at the University of Maine at Farmington, was police chief in Skowhegan during that time. He had become chief in June 2013, replacing Michael Emmons. Blais abruptly resigned at the end of July 2015.
Bolduc, who had been police chief in Millinocket, was deputy chief at the time. He had been with the department since 2013. In August 2013, he became deputy chief when Dan Summers left to become chief in Lincoln. Bolduc became interim police chief July 27, after Blais left, then officially became chief in August.
FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE
Skowhegan police officers are working under a one-year labor contract with the potential of better wages in a new contract, Bolduc said. Starting pay, according to the police union wage scale, is $16.59 per hour for a new officer. In neighboring Fairfield, the base pay for a patrol officer after July 1 will be $18.62. State troopers start off at an annual salary of $38,625, according to the Maine.gov website.
Bolduc said his emphasis since he took over as chief has been to ensure adequate training for his police officers. And while Skowhegan police salaries remain lower than the competition in central Maine, Bolduc said he is optimistic that wages and benefits soon will be sufficient to maintain a full roster and make officers less likely to leave for greener pastures.
Two new officers have completed the basic police course at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and two more are enrolled, one in August and another in January. There also will be supervisor training for the sergeants and detectives.
Bolduc said four undercover detectives from New Haven, Connecticut, came to the Skowhegan Armory last month for a joint training session with area departments on drugs and gangs. Bolduc said drugs and gangs have become a big problem and that it’s a two-way street – drugs come to Maine from New Haven in exchange for guns that are easily obtainable in Maine.
The drugs often are associated with gangs that have filtered into the state, he said.
Doug Harlow can be contacted at 612-2367 or at:
dharlow@centralmaine.com
Twitter: Doug_Harlow
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