Rumford Police Chief Tony Milligan, left, stands Friday with Rumford officer Robert Haseltine, center, and Jay officer Rex Schweighofer during a ceremony at Rumford Falls Auditorium in Rumford. The two patrolmen were recognized as graduates of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s Basic Law Enforcement Training Program in Vassalboro, which canceled the graduation ceremony Friday due to COVID-19. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
RUMFORD — Two graduates of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy were recognized Friday, hours after the academy canceled its graduation ceremony due to COVID-19.
Honored were Robert Haseltine of the Rumford Police Department and his roommate at the academy, Rex Schweighofer, a patrolman with the Jay Police Department.
Rumford police Chief Tony Milligan said, “After receiving the news and hearing the disappointment in Robert’s voice, I knew that I had to do something . . . and with help from my amazing team, we decided to hold our own graduation ceremony.”
Some 30 people, all wearing masks, attended the ceremony in the Rumford Falls Auditorium.
The Basic Law Enforcement Training Program is an 18-week residential course held twice a year at the academy in Vassalboro. Applicants must meet entrance requirements. Graduates are able to state to prospective law enforcement employers that they have fulfilled the mandatory training requirements of a full-time municipal, county or state law enforcement officer.
“This training program is among the best basic law enforcement training that the nation has to offer,” Milligan said. “Not everyone graduates from this training.”
Haseltine’s scores ranked him sixth in his class of 57 graduates, the chief said. “In fact, his scores were all above the class average across all scoring categories.”
Haseltine was hired by the department in July 2020 and began the academy training Aug. 16.
Matthew Haseltine pinned a badge on his son’s uniform and then on Schweighofer’s uniform.
“Robert is someone who cares . . . like when he stopped at a house on Franklin Street one night to stand up some Christmas decorations that had blown over in the wind, or when he and his roommate, Rex, decided to help a citizen who had nobody, move some heavy furniture at their home,” Milligan said.
In December 2020, Haseltine and his partner, Cpl. Lawrence Winson, heard a call for a structure fire at a home in Mexico, the chief told the audience. They raced over there to pull victims out of a bedroom window before firefighters arrived.
Both officers were credited with saving two lives that night and Milligan presented both of them with Life Saving Commendations on Feb. 23, 2021.
On Monday, Jay patrol officer Daniel Demers described Schweighofer as “an outstanding officer” who has been with the department since 2019.
“He is skilled, willing to get in there and do whatever needs to be done,” Demers said, no matter the situation.
Schweighofer is working as a patrol officer for the department, Demers said.
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