The detective says he also gets great satisfaction from solving smaller crimes.
FARMINGTON – Ever humble, Farmington’s top cop for 2003 is quicker to point to his fellow officers than he is to himself when asked about his Officer of the Year award.
“It could have been given to anyone else in the department and it would have been just as richly deserved,” said Farmington Police Department Detective Marc Bowering, who was named the recipient Wednesday.
The honor has tipped a hat each year since 1996 to a full-time employee in the department.
In 2002, the award went to officer Christopher Chase, now the school resource officer in SAD 9. This is the first Officer of the Year win for Bowering, though he has been selected as the Officer of the Quarter several times since joining the department about five years ago.
In his letter announcing Bowering’s accolade, Caton said that the detective’s work in 2003 “has been outstanding.”
Bowering worked on the Osborne shooting case last July, helped solve a firebomb case and worked with the Maine State Police in their investigation of the shooting death of Wilton contractor Raymond “Butch” Weed.
Bowering is quick to mention that everyone else in the department helped him in some way or another while he tackled a heavy caseload in 2003.
“I work with a really good group of guys, and girls, who love what they do and are very professional,” he said. “Everyone pitches in.”
While Bowering has made headlines for his work on the big cases, it’s cracking the smaller cases, like a purse snatching or a car break-in, that give him the most satisfaction, he said.
Bowering attributes that to his desire to help the people in his community who truly need the money in that purse or the item that was stolen from that car.
Caton’s announcement also noted Bowering’s community involvement. He facilitated the 11-week Citizen’s Police Academy, helped get a team together to play in a charity softball game and visited business and banks to teach crime prevention tips.
“Our department is very community-oriented. We do a lot of giving back to the community,” Bowering said.
While Bowering is proud of his award, he simply hangs the plaque on the wall of his Wilton home and gets to work. At any time, he’s got a minimum of six cases open, and he’s anxious to solve them.
Reid chosen
Meanwhile, patrolman Nathan Reid has been selected as the department’s employee of the quarter for the fall of 2003.
“Your efforts this past quarter have stood out above other employees in making the highways safe with tough traffic enforcement, and our persons and property safe with aggressive criminal enforcement,” Caton said in his letter of announcement.
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