MONMOUTH – Retired Brunswick Police Department Patrol Commander Robert Annese has been hired to lead and rebuild the town’s Police Department, selectmen announced Wednesday night.
Annese has worked with the Brunswick Police Department since 1976. He will start his new duties Monday.
The decision came months after town residents decided against contracting with the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office and keeping their own department.
Since then, Detective Sgt. James Minkowsky, on loan from Lewiston, has been acting chief. He and town officials formed a search committee for a new chief.
“I am thrilled with the town’s choice,” Minkowsky said. “I am sure he will suit the needs of the town. “
While with Brunswick, Annese wrote numerous grants and policies, making him a professional administrator, Minkowsky added.
“We have come a long way, and the department doesn’t seem to be looking back. With a revamped police station now with an interrogation room and an entrance breezeway in the making, the department is feeling good about where it is going,” he said.
To lend the chief a helping hand, Minkowsky was able to develop a police budget that includes an administrative assistant so the chief has more time to deal with town matters.
Starting July 1 the town will have a part-time control officer, which will help free-up more time for officers, selectmen decided in a vote.
The department will soon see more training and in time Minkowsky, a resident of Monmouth, hopes that Annese will have the five-officer department current on procedures and policies.
“He is the perfect person to help Monmouth grow in that direction,” he said of Annese.
Since Minkowsky took over in February, the department has also upgraded to IMC software that allows police agencies to share files quicker.
“They just need to continue in this direction,” Minkowsky said. “And like I said before, Annese is the person to do it.”
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