BANGOR, Maine — When Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia took the reins of the Bangor Police Department in June 2007, his first official act was to give Lt. Mark Hathaway a promotion: to Gastia’s former post as services lieutenant.
Gastia, who is retiring at the end of September, is using up his unused vacation time and again appointed Hathaway as his replacement, but this time it’s for only a short amount of time, Sgt. Paul Edwards said. Starting Thursday, Hathaway began standing in for Gastia until Deputy Chief Peter Arno is ready to assume the interim chief role, he said.
“There is a gap between when Ron leaves and Arno comes on of about six weeks,” the sergeant explained.
Arno, a 25-year Bangor police veteran, was appointed by the Bangor City Council on Aug. 13 to be the city’s interim police chief until a permanent chief is hired. Hathaway has worked for the department for about two decades.
Note to Ms. Ricker when Sergeant Edwards said “There is a gap between when Ron leaves and Arno comes on of about six weeks,” a good follow up question for Sgt Edwards would have been:
“Sergeant Edwards why is Deputy Chief Arno not available for 6 weeks?”
Once again, about 50% of the story is missing!
That’s a good point, undoubtedly it has to do with accrued vacation time and/or his pension forecast. I’ve worked in public agencies and know that it isn’t all peaches and cream but the people who ride it out to 20-30 years get sweetheart pension deals and of course cops/firemen get benefits that defy the laws of physics. A technicality in dates of service time can make the difference of thousands of dollars per year
Agreed. I was thinking he might be at the National Police (FBI) Academy taking one of the classes.
I have always felt Ron is a decent man and LE till recent events . Now that being said I think is it the politics most would fall victim to in his position . Time to move on ,I can not imagine his frustrations . Now if MR. Almy would do the same that would be a good thing. City counsel has a lot more say than the chief of police in the real world. Something that became clear to me in the last few years . Explains more about certain things than we know.
Was a time when I thought Ron was a straight shooter . Maybe the politics is just to much for him. Piece Ron I guess you could not change the world and fell victim to the politics time for you to move on . Good luck I know I could not have done your job.
Wow, outstanding story once again by BDN. Why is Gastia retiring so soon? Fired? Why is Arno not around for 6 weeks? Didn’t he have all summer off? Hathaway? not third in command… Where’s third in command Tim Reid? This department is in such a mess. It needs a total makeover. Too much BS at BPD.
true
Retiring “so soon?” As Solomon said above these yahoos get sweetheart pension deals, which means retiring WAY before anyone in the private sector would be able to retire. Great for them, bad deal for taxpayers. What idiocy. Why do we put up with it?
These “yahoos”? As in, the men and women who will risk life and limb to save little old YOU?
They risk life and limb and are subjected to the most depraved behavior from drug addicts, but that does not give their union the right to bankrupt the public purse.
When you feel envious of a working person who has a good pension, you have two choices.
1) you can slam them for having a union, and try to slice away their benefits, which will make you feel great immediately.
2) you can join with other workers to advocate for a good pension for yourself. That’s harder, takes longer, and requires taking personal responsibility.
You could been a cop they do have opening right know. Lt. Mark Hathaway is a wonderful guy and has done a lot for the city of bangor. His retirement he paided for dearly. He pay into MSRS and when leave they have to pickup the full cost of there health insurance. Which is around 7 to8 hundered a month know thats a sweatheart pension benefit deal. Maybe if the private sector had a nice retirement plan you could go after 25 to 30 yrs. Instead of making you work until you are 70 its and collect SS an be lucky if you can afford your depends and ensure drinks.
Hopefully he can solve that triple homicide that happened a couple weeks ago. I am now a Texas resident and I fear for my former neighbors in Bangor.
Waiting for Peter is worth all the time necessary.
This is bizarre. If these guys worked in the real world, they wouldn’t find themselves being able to burn up unused vacation time advance of leaving their job permanently. They also wouldn’t be given a golden handshake after just 25 years on the job. I hope they realize how incredibly good their jobs are.
Really, working your entire life on a cops salary is lucky? A lifetime job that will never pay even 100k per year is lucky?
Plus, maybe you have a tougher stomach than me but you do realize part of the “incredibly good job” is to see the worst condition of dead bodies including babies, photos of child molestation, get fought with, spit on, bleed on, threatened, sit in a car for hours when you don’t have to assist with those gross calls, sit on stake outs day after day with no results, be the first repsonders to some of the most grusome crimes around and much more.
I personally find an “incredibly good job” at a minimum to contain none of the above for starters.
They do get some decent perks but geez Bangorin, would you want to deal with that nightmare? I don’t do drugs but I might if I had to see that stuff everyday. They are still human beings and it has to go home with some of them after they scrape a kid off the highway or go to a home to see some kids head splattered all over the wall because his girlfreind dumped him and on and on.
I am surprised they get anyone to hire for what the BPD offers to pay. I am glad my children didn’t want to become cops. I would have been scared to death for their safety and that was before super human strength bath salts.
After 25 years I bet many of them are better off retiring and should be encouraged to do so. That type of lifestyle has to burn even the best of some out and they probably need the next 25 years to forget all they had to see on the job.
Am I cop friendly, you bet I am. They have in my opinion a very tough job with very little pay or long term benefits or security, plus it’s about as thankless of a job as there is. As soon as someone gets a parking tickets they hate all cops forget about an OUI or other common charges to those that think they are above the law. I think these guys do it because they want to help people more than I do and they sacrifice a lot to be able to do that. They can have it, I’ll stay in the private sector where my income doesn’t have a cap on it and I can make as much as I want.
Those are my 2 cents.
Gastia is a good man and got what he wanted, a captions pension.. We need a good man that will stay for 10/15 years.. Please city council don’t just put a friend in there because you want him/her to retire at a higher pay grade… I believe I talk to Officer Hathaway at the folk festival and he din’t seem all that friendly….. Police are trained to mistrust even their mothers.
I’ve known Mark since he was a young kid. He’s a good man and I wish him the best.
Here we are, the tax payers and there is no open door policy here. What about being honest and open Transparency, is what its called. The citizens of Bangor have a valid right to know what is going on within the department, it is not suppose to be behind the blue line, anymore. What about The Commissioners, why are they not letting the public know what the truth is ? I agree with the premise that the chief, should be promoted from within and not from a foolish and costly national search. But hey, its not their money its only the taxpayers. Someone needs to get the commissioners to explain to the citizens as they have the final word. maybe its time to get them replaced as they are tight lipped when it comes to being honest and open and of course how the funds are being spent. The citizens need to unite and force ” Transparency” for the good of all……..
The front door to the BPD is open 24/7/365. You can walk in that door anytime you wish, ask to speak to the commanding officer and he/she will answer anything you want to know that they are by law allowed to tell you.
If you are looking for gossip you can find that on the playground, not in the best police department in the State of Maine.
We will always always be in the dark.