Norway’s police chief emphasizes importance of working with kids.
NORWAY – A happy childhood may partly be why Norway Police Chief Rob Federico has an affinity for helping children, which is also part of his duties as a policeman.
“A lot of people don’t really know how to parent,” he said recently in his office. “We end up taking over that role for them a lot of times. Children will learn ethics or morals from school, parents or the streets, and if we don’t intervene in the streets, that’s where they’ll get it from.”
For many years, before he became a police officer, he and his wife ran a 4-H club for kids in this area focusing on citizenship.
“We were teaching them to be responsible and vote, and to be involved in community things,” he said, preparing them for leadership roles when they grew up.
Taking his own lessons to heart, Federico became a police officer when he was in his late 30s, and got his first full-time policing job in Norway 10 years ago.
Now 49, he’s been Norway police chief for two years.
For the first 20 years of his career, after graduating from Cheverus High School in Portland, Federico worked as a plumber, learning the business from his father.
But, he said, “I couldn’t see myself retiring from plumbing. You’re always in wet areas.” Police work was a natural draw. His father once was a reserve officer in Scarborough, plus he remembers a local Raymond police officer called Wayne Denbow with fondness. He said today he speaks with Denbow frequently.
Federico was in Scarborough as a boy and then moved with his parents to a lakeside home in Raymond – “the perfect venue to grow up.” He also spent much of his early childhood at his grandparent’s dairy farm in New Hampshire, another idyll for a young boy.
An only child, he admits he was a spoiled brat. He recalls the first time he encountered his wife’s family Christmas where the presents had to be marked with different names. “I said, We never did that! All the presents were for me!'”
Federico married his second wife, Jean, 25 years ago. Between the two of them, they have raised five children. Jean ran a health-food store in Paris before selling it three years ago, and she continues to buy organic food for Federico and herself, which he says helps him ward off colds and stay healthy. That, and his ability to shake off the stresses of the workplace.
When the day’s done, Federico says he closes up his office and becomes just a guy who likes to fish, mow the lawn, wear some dingy dungarees and, on the weekends, skip a morning shave or two.
“When I close this door at 5 p.m. at night, I am no longer Chief Federico,” he said. His focus changes from the stresses of policing to his hobbies, like fly fishing and making maple syrup. “If you don’t do those things, you won’t survive.”
As a police officer, you can’t dwell on some of the scenes you encounter, or the different cases you work on, he said.
And, he said, there’s no problem with laughing a little, if it’s harmless. “There’s a time to be funny and a time to be serious,” he said. And although he appears solemn most of the time on the job, he said he’s actually known for making people laugh.
“If you don’t laugh, you have a problem,” he said, and laughed.
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