HOULTON, Maine — Two new officers were sworn in to the Houlton Police Department on Monday, March 8, with two additional officers to join them in May.
Officers Sean Farrell and Wyatt Foster were sworn in on Monday, in a process that was administered by Houlton Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary.
Recruitment for new police officers can sometimes be a difficult task, but the department was fortunate to find candidates willing to fill the open positions, according to Houlton Police Chief Tim DeLuca,
“We were focused on quality, not experience,” DeLuca said. “We try to find people of the best moral and physical character.”
Currently, the two new officers are undergoing their second week of Law Enforcement Pre-Service (also known as LEPS) school. Following that, they will enter into the Houlton Police Department Training Week, taking courses in things like ATV training and NARCAN certification. They will then spend 10-12 weeks on the force under the supervision of a field training officer, before undergoing 18 weeks of training at the academy as part of the Basic Law Enforcement Training Program.
Foster, a native of Oakfield, joins the HPD after studying rural public safety administration at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
“I’ve lived here my whole life, but never really gotten into the community as much,” he said. “I’m excited to finally get to know people and really help out the community with community policing tactics.”
Farrell, who originally hails from central Massachusetts, previously worked as a TSA officer before moving to Maine with his wife, whose family owns property in the Bridgewater area.
“I was looking for a law enforcement job as a police officer. I didn’t want to do corrections, and ended up applying here. Eventually I would like to get down that rabbit hole of something towards being a K-9 handler.”
Two other new officers, Ethan Jacques and Austin White, will join HPD in another two months’ time. They will also undergo the training process to be undertaken by Farrell and Foster, before they too are assigned a field training officer.
New positions at HPD had been made following several retirements and promotions of officers within the department, as well as officers leaving to join other departments around Aroostook County. In October, four Houlton police officers had been promoted to supervisory and investigation positions within the department. Most recently in February, long time dispatcher Tom Milton had announced his retirement.
