FARMINGTON — Three recently promoted staff with the Police Department were recognized at the Select Board meeting on Tuesday night, April 23. Purchase of two police cruisers and equipment for them was also approved for the department.
Farmington resident Tanya Gould pins the corporal badge on Ryan Rosie Tuesday night, April 23, during the Farmington Select Board meeting at the municipal building. Rosie is now corporal/training officer for the Police Department. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
Police Chief Kenneth Charles said his department has a pretty elaborate system for evaluating people for promotion and lateral transfers.
“Ryan Rosie has been with our department for over 12 years, he has been a stalwart,” Charles said. “He takes on any project you ask of him. He coordinates the Farmington Fair schedule, he is our firearms instructor, he’s our tactical medical instructor. A lot of his skill set and experience is key to our preparation for active threat scenarios and a lot of the training that we are going to be undergoing.”
Rosie is a big part of the department ramping up its capabilities, Charles said. The department hasn’t had a corporal in years, the badge has been sitting in a desk and not used for quite a while, he noted. Charles has been developing the job description for a corporal/training officer.
“Ryan is going to be our primary field training officer for new officers,” Charles stated. “We are already coming up with a laundry list of other responsibilities for him including preparing for active threat response training for all area first responders. I am just thrilled to have him take that next step in his career as well. It is well deserved and he is definitely recognized as a local expert.”
Charles removed Rosie’s current badge. Tanya Gould of Farmington pinned the corporal badge on Rosie’s uniform.
“Farmington is second to none in this very challenging career of law enforcement,” Rosie said. “The training availability, what we have going for the town of Farmington, there is no agency in this state that does a better job of preparing their officers.”
Farmington has a young crew that can do really good things if prepared, Rosie said. “They are wonderful guys and I am excited to have that endeavor under my lap,” he added.
Farmington Police Chief Kenneth Charles at left provides information about Jonathan Parker at right Tuesday night, April 23, during the Farmington Select Board meeting held in the municipal building. Parker has been promoted to sergeant. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
Jonathan Parker is a lifelong resident of the area, presently lives in Wilton, Charles noted. “He has been with us for a couple of years now and he has really shown his propensity for leadership, composure, all of the qualities that we want to see in a supervisor,” Charles said.
“I am very excited and honored to be named the next sergeant,” Parker stated. “Just looking forward to serving our department, the community and our town.”
The department hasn’t had a detective since before Charles became chief. “Rex Schweighofer was recently selected as our detective,” he said. “It is going to be great to be able to mentor a new budding investigator. I feel like that is kind of a strength of mine and it is nice to be able to pass that on to others.”
Schweighofer was training in New Hampshire, was unable to attend the recognition.
In other Police Department business, selectmen awarded the bid for two 2023 fully equipped police cruisers to Island Tech Services which bid $120,736. The company headquarters are in Ronkonkoma, New York.
Charles said only three bids were received, he had sent out requests for proposals to close to a dozen firms. Island Tech is a relatively new company in the area, brings a lot of good experience, he noted.
The bid from Hight Ford in Skowhegan/Farmington was $126,725 while one from Quirk Ford in Augusta was for $122,158.
Chair Joshua Bell asked what the department’s reserve balance was.
“It’s in really good shape,” Charles said. “We had budgeted $124,000 for these two [cruisers], we do have some residual from the sale of the dozer and left over from last year.”
Town Manager Erica LaCroix said there was $27,649 left over at the end of 2023, $124,000 was added during the budget process. There is over $151,000 in the reserve account, she stated.
Selectman Byron Staples asked about the life expectancy of the cruisers in miles per year.
“Anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 per year,” Charles replied. “My goal is to get to a seven year rotation – about 100,000 to 120,000 miles.”
Selectmen also approved putting the two cruisers being replaced out to bid as has been done in the past.
One was sold at auction last year for more than $4,000, Charles said. He was confident auction sales would do better than trade-ins.
Also approved was the $7,000 purchase of one GETAC patrol computer and two mobile printers from Island Tech Services using the department’s Computer Reserve Account.
The tablet in one of the cruisers being replaced won’t turn on anymore, needs to be replaced, Charles stated.
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