Linda Barker, an officer with the South Portland Police Department, is the new college resource officer at Southern Maine Community College.

Barker, of Gorham, has been on the South Portland Police force since 1981. The position was created in preparation for a new 326-bed residence hall currently under construction and due to be completed in the fall of 2008. Barker will work with the SMCC security, residential life and student services departments and will report to the South Portland Police Department. She will patrol the campus in full uniform.

Barker also will offer educational presentations for resident-assistant training and residence hall safety programs. In addition, Barker will participate in SMCC’s Criminal Justice Department activities and programs, and function as an adjunct instructor – a role she has filled at SMCC since 2003.

Barker was formerly school resource officer at South Portland Middle School. She created and coordinated the school-wide “Be Bright Don’t Light” tobacco awareness and prevention fair; and helped run the GateKeeper Program, which educates school staff about youth suicide, and the STOP Theater Troupe, in which middle and high school students teach others about issues like bullying and substance abuse.

She is currently enrolled in the Master’s of Science in Education program at the University of New England, and has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Southern Maine. She started her career with an Associate’s Degree in Law Enforcement Technology from SMCC (then Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute).