Dixfield Chief Richard Pickett

Age: 57

In law enforcement: 31 years

Started: March 1976, Maine State Police; Pickett has been Dixfield chief since 1998.

Original inspiration? “I was working in the woods for Scott Paper company in Greenville, Maine, I heard an ad on the television that Maine State Police were looking for a few good men. So I jokingly said to my wife, ‘I think I’ll call and get an application.’ We had a good laugh at it. So I got up, went to the phone, called up, asked them to send me the packet.”

Handling the unruly before Tasers: “The first and foremost thing, in my opinion, is respect. You have to respect people in order to get respect back. The John Wayne syndrome of going out and just saying ‘Do this’ and if (they) don’t, using brute strength, that might work for some people, but that was never my technique.”

Only time he’s used pepper spray: Subduing an injured skunk that had been hit by a car.

“I can’t remember how it went, it was a long time ago. What we were trying to do was get it to a point where it would calm down and hopefully not spray (us) when we shot it.”

Quirky case? (Laughs) “I have one but it wouldn’t be write-able.”

Challenges of the job: “There’s a lot of snap decisions out here that officers are expected to make. We make the right call, it’s business as usual. It’s the police doing what they’re supposed to do. If we make the wrong call, we’re all over the newspaper and everybody is trying to crucify us for doing something we shouldn’t have done.”

Lisbon Chief David Brooks

Age: 53

In law enforcement: 33 years

Started: Spring 1974, Richmond Police Department; Brooks’ has been Lisbon chief since 1980. When he got the job, he was the youngest chief in Maine.

Back in the day… “The first (speed) radar unit, you had to go work out (to use it). You had to be a body builder in order to hold it up, it was so heavy.”

Once: Got attacked at the end of a low-speed chase. He followed the other car down a dead-end road, and when the driver abruptly pulled off the road and pulled back on while going around a bend, Brooks’ cruiser broadsided the other car. He hit his head.

“What I do remember, there were two guys in the car and they come out and they’re trying to get my door open. So they’re helping me out of the cruiser, so I thought. They get the door open and I get out of the car and the driver starts pounding on me.”

Instinct apparently kicked in, although Brooks doesn’t remember what happened next. When Lt. Dan Michel got to the scene, Brooks was slumped over the wheel of the cruiser, nearly unconscious. The driver was handcuffed in the back seat.

During firing range qualifications: “I go through the exercises and I start to run and just as soon as I start to run bang! – like a .22 – my right achilles (tendon) ruptured and down I went. … My buddy here (Michel) he’s got the stopwatch. Of course, he thinks I’m play acting. He’s standing over me with a stopwatch going, ‘The clock’s running’ and here I’ve just blown out my ankle. Long story short, I was in a cast for three months.”

Lisbon Lt. Dan Michel

Age: 53

In law enforcement: 33 years

Started: Summer 1974, Old Orchard Beach Police Department; Lisbon Chief David Brooks and Michel were roommates at the Police Academy in 1975. They’ve been the No. 1 and 2 guys in Lisbon for 27 years.

Once: Had an amazingly limber, and intoxicated, man who was handcuffed in the back seat with an officer on either side of him, kick Michel in the back of the head while Michel drove the cruiser. (This was before cages were installed in most police vehicles.) “I don’t know how we didn’t crash. It’s like, holy smokes!”

Little things count. Michel has kept cards and thank-you notes that he’s been sent by people in the community. “When you get one, it’s kind of special.”

Quirky case? In the early ’80s, one bank robber handed the teller a hold-up note with his name on it – and looked directly at the security camera before he left. When police asked why he’d demanded an awkward amount, $15,025, the robber said $25 was for the bail commissioner’s fee.

“He went to AMHI, he didn’t go to prison.”

Quirky, part II: “I did a car accident once, the guy was a selectman at the time. He had a one-car driveway. His car was closest to the house so he backs his wife’s car out of the driveway, puts it on the side of the street, then he backs his car out. Lo and behold, he drives it right into his wife’s car. So I do this two-car accident, he’s the driver of both cars.”

Frustration of unsolved cases: “Some of these situations, you know who it is. You just can’t get that final confirmation. There’s just not quite enough there to charge him, but in your mind you’re convinced that’s the right person.”

Androscoggin Sheriff Guy Desjardins

Age: 54

In law enforcement: 33 years

Started: Spring 1974, Sabattus Police Department; Desjardins was elected sheriff last year.

Once: Busted two bank robbers on Christmas Eve. The report over the radio said men with a sawed-off shotgun had just hit a Lisbon bank and might be headed his way. He soon spotted a car driving in a hurry, but the vehicle description didn’t match. Going by gut feeling, Desjardins swung his cruiser around and went after them anyway.

“Those were the two guys. That was the first and last time that I ever pulled my weapon out at someone and got them out at gunpoint. I’ve never done that since. It’s a feeling that I’ll never, never forget.”

Police spent the evening counting out $75,000 on the chief deputy’s desk. The bank, grateful, quietly paid for damages to Desjardins’ cruiser from the brief chase.

Quirky case? In the mid-’70s, he found the culprit of a school and car break-in by following the footprints in the snow to a local boy’s house.

“He’s standing there, and geez, there’s the car stereo on the kitchen table, mom and dad not to be found. … Of course, he’s an adult now. He’s sitting in my jail on another issue.”

Once: Got hit by the side mirror of a car that was evading a roadblock in 1984. It flung him hard, burst a spleen and broke a couple ribs. Someone heard on the scanner that he’d been run over and called Desjardins’ wife; she thought he’d been killed.

Close call, part II: In the middle of handing out a late-night speeding ticket, Desjardins suddenly had the driver grab his duty belt and yank him toward the open car window. A second later, a car barreling up the road came so close it hit Desjardins’ holster and sent him over the hood.

“That driver was able to get a plate number and Lewiston PD stopped him down on Sabattus Street and arrested him for OUI. If he wouldn’t have done that, I probably would have died. … That speeding ticket disappeared. The guy saved my life.”