There's a new sheriff in the County and his name is Shawn Gillen. Sheriff Gillen was elected last year as Aroostook County's head lawman.

Community Spotlight caught up with Sheriff Shawn Gillen to congratulate him on his new position and to find out what his vision is for peacekeeping and law enforcement in the County.

Sheriff Gillen has been in law enforcement for 25 years and before that, he served in our Armed Services.

From his humble beginnings as a part-time corrections officer, Gillen went to performing the job full-time, transporting inmates to and from the jail. After that, he became a patrol officer.

His next assignment was working for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and then became Chief Deputy of Aroostook County under then-Sheriff Darrell Crandall.

Now that he has been elected Sheriff, Gillen shed light on his vision for the County and what strategies he has in place in order to keep the peace among residents.

Increased Public Safety

Sheriff Gillen wants to accomplish an increase in public safety "without breaking the bank."

"We want to be there for everybody, but yet we don't want to reach deeper into peoples pockets for tax money."

Fighting Drug Trafficking Crimes

Sheriff Gillen said they're looking at doing some interdiction things such as monitoring Interstate 95, Route 11 and so forth. They have three people assigned full-time to Maine Drug Enforcement in which they engage in regular meetings to discuss updates, look at Intel and talk about strategies.

Gillen says that all departments have access to be aware of drug activity and trafficking that may be happening, not just with the Sheriff's Office, but state-wide as well.

Better Connectivity

Sheriff Gillen said that his office can now know what's going on in Portland, for example, and can know if drugs are being transported toward the County and vice versa.

Domestic Violence Crimes

The Sheriff said that he now has two full-time detectives to help with this, one that covers the northern part of the county and one that covers the southern part. Not only are they dedicated to tackling domestic violence crimes, but they also investigate major crimes and property crimes.

These detectives are able to do the background work that is required in bringing these types of crimes to justice as well as following up with the victim ensuring their safety and ensuring that their case makes it to court.

They also are constantly critiquing their process to see if there was something the office could have done better, if they've missed something or if they did something wrong.

The Aroostook County Sheriff's Office Facebook Page

If you would like to keep up with what is going on in the County, where the Sheriff's Office is concerned, or if you'd like to connect with the office, you can do so here.

Community Spotlight is sponsored by Cary Medical Center.

If you have an idea for the program, contact us at spotlight@townsquaremedia.com.

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