farmington – Detective Marc Bowering was the Police Department’s employee of the 2006 winter quarter.

In a letter, Chief Richard Caton said Bowering was selected because of his work in organizing two training sessions about pharmaceutical drug diversion techniques at the department. The first training was for officers, the second for medical personnel. Bowering coordinated the event with Purdue Pharma.

Caton said that in 2005, Maine experienced more deaths caused by drug overdoses than traffic accidents.

“A sizable portion of these deaths are contributed to the illegal use of pharmaceutical drugs,” Caton wrote. “It will take a partnership between law enforcement and the medical community to combat this serious problem of pharmaceutical abuse throughout the state of Maine and in the community of Farmington.”

Bowering’s effort to set up the training was a “big step in creating this partnership between the medical community and law enforcement that will make our community a better place,” Caton added.