AG’s rep gets birthday song at school

On Tuesday, Brandon Baldwin, who heads the Civil Rights Team Project in the Attorney General’s Office, came to Sherwood Heights Elementary School in Auburn to give a talk about Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and how civil rights lessons apply today.

Because it was her birthday, civil rights team member Sophie Bilodeau, who turned 11, got to introduce Baldwin at an assembly.

“It’s your birthday?” Baldwin asked. “Me too,” he said. Students applauded the birthday girl and guest.

Later when he met in a classroom with the student team, they sang “Happy birthday to Mr. Baldwin.”

In addition to Sophie, Sherwood Heights civil rights workers, ages 10 and 11, include Stacey Bilodeau, Melissa Pawlina, Evelyn Bilodeau, Cydney Price, Melvika Gelder, Madison Morin, Maxwell Draper and Matthew Purdin.

— Bonnie Washuk

The unpopular police report writing

During last week’s Lewiston Regional Technical Center student career competition, one aspect that will determine which law enforcement students win will be how well they write their police reports.

As any reporter waiting for a report knows, report writing is something most police officers dislike. (I may have, from time to time, heard groaning in the station about the dreaded report that needed to be written.)

“Report writing is not considered the most exciting part of law enforcement,”  Andrew D’Eramo, former Lewiston Police Department deputy chief, said. D’Eramo teaches law enforcement at LRTC. “Officers signed up to catch bad guys, but soon learn that they spend more time writing reports than any other function they perform,” he said.

D’Eramo emphasizes report writing when teaching high school students. Text books he uses include “The Best Police Writing Book,” “Painless Police Report Writing” and “Report Writing for Criminal Justice Professionals.”

He tells students that they may be the best investigators, but unless they can explain their actions and describe details in clear and accurate writing, “no one will ever be aware of how good their investigations were.”

— Bonnie Washuk