FARMINGTON — When the University of Maine at Farmington welcomes students back starting Aug. 30, the new campus police chief has one major goal in mind: to keep them safe.

The work for Brock Caton is not actually new. He has been interim director of public safety/chief of police since former Chief Ted Blais resigned in June 2013.

The interim was dropped and he was officially appointed to the position at the start of the university’s fiscal year in July, he said.

As head of the UMF Department of Public Safety/campus police, Caton leads a crew of three full-time and 17 part-time officers who keep a watchful but friendly eye on the approximately 1,600 students on campus.

UMF is one of only three campus police departments in the state. The University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine also have departments, he said.

Fortunately, in recent years, there has not been a lot of major crime on campus. There are the regular issues with alcohol, marijuana and harassment, but the kids do pretty well on campus, he said.

“Crime on campus comes in waves. There are no trends to look for,” he said. “It mostly comes at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. Otherwise, it is relatively quiet.”

But that doesn’t mean the department is not busy.

They work “hand-in-hand with Residential Life” to ensure safety, provide programs and interact with students, he said.

The students are receptive to campus police. The police cover sporting events and dances and walk through residence halls to help students get used to police being around in times that are not serious, he said.

“We want college life to be a great experience for kids and to prepare them with a good education to go on and do better things,” he said. “My goal is to also make sure they are safe.”

To do that, the department provides various programs.

One program, Stranger Danger, deals with living safely in residential halls. An officer dresses up in a sleazy outfit and goes into a hall, he said.

The event is intended to remind students to not prop open doors so strangers can enter and to report someone in the hall that shouldn’t be there, he said.

Another program deals with substance abuse awareness, he added.

The department has also worked with the District Attorney’s Office to enable the school to handle smaller alcohol and/or drug infractions administratively, he said. Police investigate and a conduct officer determines the outcome so as to handle the minor stuff without giving the student a criminal history, he said.

They also work with the Center for Student Development helping with students in mental health crisis, he said.

To provide for more students leaving campus for the weekend, the department is responsible for a shuttle giving free rides to the bus station in Augusta on Friday and a return ride to campus on Sunday.

Work-study students in the department provide an intercampus escort service to students walking from parking lots to buildings at night. Students can call from the parking lot and another student will go walk with them.

“They are also our eyes and ears on campus,” he said. “They’ll make rounds on campus a couple times during their shifts and sometimes see acts of vandalism or even a flat tire on a vehicle. They’ll contact the student and let them know.”

Caton joined the UMF department in 2012 as a police sergeant.

With a family in law enforcement, he gravitated that way, he said.

He received a degree in criminal justice from the University of Maine at Presque Isle then worked for the Livermore Falls Police Department for about five years.

From there, he served on the National Guard’s Maine Counterdrug Task Force for three years before joining UMF.

He has served in the Maine Army National Guard for 16 years and taken tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Caton has lived in Farmington most of his life. He’s married and has two children.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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