PARIS — Oxford County commissioners have hired two part-time school resource officers for Buckfield Junior-Senior High School and Hartford-Sumner Elementary School, and Sacopee Valley Elementary and Middle schools in Hiram.
Executive Assistant Abby Shanor said commissioners voted Nov. 8 to hire retired Maine State Police Sgt. Michael Kaspereen of Standish for the Hiram position and retired Maine State Police Sgt. Percy Turner of Paris for the Buckfield and Sumner position.
Turner is the brother of Commissioner Timothy Turner of Buckfield, who abstained from that vote, Shanor said.
Turner, Commissioner David Duguay of Byron and commission Chairman Steve Merrill of Norway voted for Kaspereen; Duguay and Merrill voted for Turner, Duguay said Wednesday evening.
Kaspereen has “more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement and in handling, training and supervising police canine teams,” according to the website for his business, Northeast Detector Dog Services. He also helped establish a statewide K-9 advisory board under the authority of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.
Percy Turner has 30 years years’ experience with Maine State Police. For nearly 20 years he has been coordinator for the security details at the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield. He has been employed part-time at the University of Maine at Augusta satellite campus on Main Street in Paris for at least 10 years.
Both men will be paid $25 an hour for 30 hours per week and no added benefits, Duguay said.
RSU 10 and SAD 55 have each paid the county $43,301 for their respective officers for the current school year. The county will, in turn, use that money to pay the officers, Duguay said.
Kaspereen began his job Nov. 8, while Turner will begin the week of Nov. 26, Duguay said.
In August, Sheriff James Theriault of Mexico told commissioners he had four requests for school resource officers from three school districts: two from SAD 55 in Hiram, one from SAD 44 in Bethel, and one from RSU 10, which includes Buckfield.
Staff Editor Mary Delamater added to this report.
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