BANGOR, Maine — Police Sgt. John Roach this week embarked on the next phase of his life, capping a career in law enforcement that spanned 33 years.
Roach joined the Bangor Police Department on Feb. 5, 1979, making him one of the city’s longest-tenured officers, Sgt. Paul Edwards said recently in announcing Roach’s retirement.
Before his retirement,, Roach was one of Bangor’s two most senior officers, who started on the same day in 1979. The other is Lt. Tim Reid, who leads the department’s criminal investigative division.
Roach grew up on the west side of Bangor, graduated from Bangor High School and served as a military police officer before signing up with the Bangor Police Department.
Over the past three decades, he has become a well known and visible member, Edwards said.
Roach has served the department in a number of capacities, including 20 years as a supervisor in the Support Services Division.
He also managed the department’s fleet of vehicles and computer and technology upgrades, supervised the Parking Enforcement Division and oversaw the city’s Emergency Communications Division.
According to Edwards, Roach is a passionate fan of all Boston sports teams.
“It is expected that his retirement will involve spending time with family, playing lots of golf and attending as many Red Sox games as possible,” Edwards said.
Roach’s retirement is among several the Bangor Police Department has seen in recent months.
Sgt. Al Hayden and Officer Dan Herrick both retired last month. Lt. Jeff Millard retired last fall.
Further retirements are anticipated in the next year or so.
Good luck John enjoy every day. Go Blue, John will be there alot in the fall I bet.
Good work Sgt. Roach.
Enjoy.
Another fine officer retiring . Edward’s hang in there a few more years . We can not afford to lose more of the the more experienced police men. Takes a long time to learn how to think with you brain and be able to know who is real trouble and who is not. Not let politics get into the way of your job. We have some younger police that do not have fully developed frontal lobes . Not trying to put them down in any way just saying frontal lobes in your brain that affect rational development do not fully develop till about 30 years of age.
Lots of folks retire. Everyone who works contributes to the life of a community. Police do as well and some of them demonstrate bravery but many are also authoritarian and abusive. The job tends to do that. I am not sure why a policeman retiring should, unless they are truly special in some way, get singled out for news coverage.
Jealous?? The news coverage may be a small “Thank You” for the service they provided. The pension is not the greatest and with the inability to collect Socials Security( from a previous BDN article), it’s no wonder they stay so long. Have a great retirement Sarge. Your service is appreciated by many.
Any officer that can work 33 years as an officer has to top notch……..it just doesn’t happen if your not.
Does a Wal*mart employee get an article in the BDN when they retire? Just curious!
I don’t know, why don’t you call the BDN when you get your time in and ask….
Enjoy your retirement! :)
Enjoy you retirement Sgt Roach and enjoy watching the yankees make it to the world series
I don’t think that I have ever even seen that officer around. but it’s good that he is done such a good long job. Have fun in retirement.
The only one that i really know is paul Edwards because you see him on tv all the time and driving around downtown in the suv.
I grew up with Edwards . He can be more than fair so can Sproul, and Collie. Some of the younger ones can be just that young.
Nice photoshop on the picture it says Higgins on the name badge.
How come a 33-year career policemen only gains the rank of sergeant? Bangor politics all over again?