CALAIS, Maine — A document obtained by the Bangor Daily News through a Freedom of Access Act public records request shows why Calais Police Department Patrolman Raymond Mills, 31, of Calais was fired last month.
An Aug. 1 letter to Mills from City Manager Diane Barnes that notified him of his immediate termination cites a July 24 incident in which Barnes contends Mills showed “poor judgment” by charging a woman with a civil violation rather than a criminal violation. Also of concern, Barnes said in the letter, is that Mills “took the female subject from that incident to a motel where you made an earlier arrest and allowed her to spend the night in a room where the arrestees’ belongings of an unrelated incident should have been secured.
“Your credibility came into question,” Barnes said in her letter, “when Sgt. Fitzsimmons asked you if you had returned to the motel later after dropping off the female subject. You responded that you did not return to the motel. However the police cruiser video shows you did return to the motel.”
Mills said Wednesday in a telephone interview that he had arrested two people for parole violations at the motel before being called away by border patrol law enforcement to deal with a woman who was found to be operating a vehicle without a license.
“Her mother was in Bangor and needed to come get her, and the motel room was the only place I could think of to put her,” he said Wednesday. “I didn’t know if the room was authorized for use, but, other than that, she would have been walking the streets of Calais.”
When asked if he had any sexual contact with the woman after bringing her to the motel, Mills said Wednesday that he did not.
“I was taken aback by the whole thing,” he said of his termination. “It was pretty unfortunate, and it got really political real quick.”
Barnes’ letter also cites an incident on July 18 during which she contends that Mills demonstrated “poor judgment and lack of common sense” in leaving a prisoner with Calais Fire Department personnel in order to respond to another call.
“The prisoner was not restrained,” she said, “and should never have been the responsibility of civilian personnel.”
Mills was a new hire on probationary status, which meant the city could terminate his employment with or without cause. Barnes said in her termination letter that Mills’ violation of Calais Police Department policies “have caused loss of confidence in your suitability to become a regular member of the department.”
Mills said Wednesday that, after his termination in Calais, he was hired by the Indian Township Police Department.
“I just want to move on,” he said.
I have heard nothing good about Barnes. That being said, Mills definitely needed to be off the streets as well. Too bad he was picked up by another agency at all. He is another Richard Strout and should not be in law enforcement at all.
Funny, I have hear nothing but good about Barnes. You slam her, and then say you agree with her decision?
Actually the poster stated they have heard nothing good about Barnes. That is not a slam, that is a statement. In either case, if one agrees with a decision they agree. You don’t have to admire someone to agree with the decision.
a statement and a slam can be the same thing einstein.
Sounds like Calais needs more officers for help if he needed to leave the prisoner with the fire department to go handle another call.They use to do that ever now and then here in Lubec if one of us were in the bay for awhile while they go handle a call. Of course, this was back in the day and times haave changed. To bad but I would like to know what he meant that it got “political quick”. Sounds like more to the story. And, where is the supervisor during this. He was probationary officer and looks like they failed to supervise/FTO. And what room at the motel are they talking about? ARe they saying that he footed the bill for this girl to stay the night instead of putting her in their lockup? Sounds like a nice guy to me and did her a favor and cut someone a break with a civil charge instead of a criminal charge. IDK….something is fishy here
The room was available to Officer Mills because the people who had been in it were arrested (by him). He knew it was empty. Has he explained why he returned to the motel?
No idea. not sure he has too now anyways…
Why was the room available… An arrest had been made at the room, but that does not mean that the local PD can then use it for their own use. Sorry, poor judgement on the part of the officer in this situation.
Mills was actually a great officer. Being new, you are faced with decisions that you don’t know how to handle sometimes. He screwed up. His major fault was that he lied when he said he didn’t return to the motel. That is a breech of public trust, so I understand his termination. Once your credibility is compromised you’re not much use to a Law Enforcement Agency, so you go work on a reservation. You know how many people are given a uniform, gun, and a police car without formal training? Nope, that’s not a joke…
If these circumstances got Mills dismissed, then there should be a lot of officers in Washington County who (should have been) that should be dismissed.
Agree 100%
Bob Fitzsimmons is most likely the instigator here. The guy has become quite arrogant.
Bob Fitzminnons is a GREAT police man and I have never ever found him to be “Arrogant” at all!
Seriously? I have never seen that side of Bob. He has gone above and beyond with working with the public. Between his involvement with the watchgroups, to the bike rally, to his Chp Pool program. Sorry, not sure where you are coming from with this statement.
Sounds like there is still more to this story that no one has heard yet. Maybe we will and maybe we wont. There is alot of missing info in all this and it looks like it is only pointed in one direction. Nothing like small town politics.
Like what?
Still missing alot of info. There are questions that havent been asked. Why did he leave that person with the fire dept while he went to another call. Has anyone seen the cruiser video showing what he did that night. or simply look at the computer records from the cruiser. Where was his supervisor if he was a probie shouldnt he be supervised not left alone. There are just too many to ask and no one will answer them
He may be a wonderful guy and still a greenhorn, but stashing people here and there as needed, plus a lie, shows that he may not be cut out to be a cop. With more experience–maybe. But too many poor decisions and a lie against him that quickly, I’d have to say no.
Now if he was president of the United States things would have ended a bit differently.
There are way too many problems here. Mills, as a ‘Probie’, should have been with his FTO. Where were they ? That Barnes describes what happened as ‘poor judgement’ is her way of saying ‘I don’t agree with you and I don’t care that I wasn’t there’ just shows you that she is the one running the local PD. It also shows that she has no idea as to just what goes on in Calais on a daily basis besides what she read’s, run’s into or hear’s, which is polite way saying she manages Calais thru gossip, not the fact’s. Oh, and as a side question, where in the beejeez is The Chief in all of this ? Mills conduct should have been a matter between Mills and the Chief, not the Town Manager. As far as Mills supervision, that’s a matter that the Chief needs to be held accountable for by Barnes, if not Calais’s Town Council. I wish Mills good luck on his next Dept and hope that he both has a better Chief that actually supports him by understanding what Mills and his fellow Officer’s have to face on a daily basis, and a better overall Dept that realizes that not everything fits into a neat box that is easily set on a shelf and provides for what Barnes clearly does not understand, that being both situational awareness and discretion.
For those of us who have had to do it, public safety is never, ever, a simple thing to boxed up and put away easily. Barnes is clearly a ‘wannabe Chief’. That said, I also wonder where Donnie Smith’s people were when a clearly demonstrated Mutual Aid call came out. This whole mess is shows a complete lack of actual communication, planning and deliberate neglect of responsibilty that, had it come down to it, had all the makings of a 1st class lawsuit against Calais for Failure to Manage, Failure to Supervise, Failure to Train and Abuse of Authority. Calais thinks they dodged a bullet ? Think again folk’s. When the other side has a machine gun, dodging is not an option. It only delays the inevitable. And the longer it gets delayed, the more expensive it becomes. Seen it before on the Fed level and a $ 8 MILLION DOLLAR ‘smack’ is not a nice event to see, not to mention what it does to the Dept’s Municipal Insurance Rate’s for liability. Barnes, and The Chief, had better start now trying to figure out how they are gonna deal with the inevitable ’cause it’s coming. The same could be said to Calais’s Town Council. That light you see in the distance isin’t so far off. And every day it get’s ‘that much’ closer. How close does it have to get to be too close ? Someone responsible had better start asking that question now, while there’s still time to ask and fix, unless Calais wants to deal with it with it ‘cold turkey’.
Mike, although I agree with you on all levels. I dont think it is fair to point to the Sheriffs Office. They may or may not have a MOU in place but who says Calais asked for help. Maybe they were on other calls like here in Lubec. But, I liked your comment because you are correct. Failure to Supervise looks to be a big issue. He is a rookie and never got direction, from the Sgt working (or senior guy) and did what he thought was best. And you are right again…where is the Chief. Sounds like she is running the department or has a big ego and the Chief might be scared of her.
Wash, the Sheriif’s Office is, by law, THE responsible Agency for all law enforcement in the County. MOU or not, when the dispatcher put’s the call out, and whoever from the SO’s Office is on the road, hear’s it, it’s time to move and not waste time on nonsense politic’s. Donnie wants to get into a ‘yoohooing’ match, fine. Do it later, AFTER the obvious call for assistance is dealt with. What’s also more than troubling here, by way of MOU’s that you brought up, is where was the MSP and any of the local CBP folk’s out on the road ? We all bleed the same when push comes to shove, even Donnie. It’s time we all started acting like professional’s, not Barney Fife’s trying to CYA when Barnes has a hissyfit. The world is bigger, and revolves around, more than Barnes. It’s time she realized that fact of life before that fact of life comes around, on that ‘Wheel of Life’, and bites her dead center in the keester. Those of you who’ve been bit know how painful it can be. Those of you who haven’t are in for a real lesson in life when it happens !
Right on…
Mike, you may lack some key information. Mills had graduated the Acadamy. As such he is supposedly fully trained.
No responsible Agency is going to turn someone loose right out of the Academy. If that Agency does so then that Agency is begging for a Failure to Train lawsuit. The Court’s, at all level’s, are full of them. That’s why there is a Field Training Officer program out there that runs in conjunction with, and is made a part of, every responsible Academy in the Country. Academy’s train to a Federal, or in Maine’s case a State, Standard, not a local one. Local Dept’s have a host of local issue’s, policy’s (which were pretty absent here by the looks of thing’s) and procedure’s that their Officer’s and Deputy’s need to know. Frequent D/V location’s, locally known drug area’s, known stolen auto drop-off spot’s and the rest, to include knowing which Judge or Magistrate (or even JP) can be called at 3 AM for a telephone warrant are all subject’s that the local Agency is responsible for. Geographic knowledge, those used (but not generally known) shortcut’s that are all important when someone is getting their keester kicked, the known firestarter’s that make for a very busy holiday season all are part of any responsible training program. The same can be said of the Officer’s and Deputy’s training in emergency medical service’s. What are you gonna do at 4 AM and you get a call about a disturbance and it’s actually a woman going into 2nd stage labor and you’re no where near a hospital ? Training is the key.
Folk’s there is a lot that goes into the making of a good Officer or Deputy. It takes time and apparently Barnes believes in the ‘Instant Officer’ method as opposed to training and investing in the people that work for the citizens of Calais. You take short cut’s and practice political ‘My way or the Highway’ personnel management and this is what you get. The longer this nonsense goes on the more expensive that inevitable lawsuit is going to be that much more expensive becomes a fact. And if you think that just because we are here in Maine, and that is going to be used as an excuse for not training to a foreseeable, if not factualy documented needed standard, forget it. The Court’s, thanks to the AG and his recent Medicare case in Boston, are now going to be even more inclined to ask those questions that should have been asked way before hand as to just what got this whole thing started in the 1st place. Barnes and the Town Council are sitting on a legal ‘time bomb’ and it’s only a matter of time before it goes off and someone is going to held accountable.
As far as the letter, Maine is an “at will employment” state. I would never have gone into detail as to why Barnes is letting the employee go. A simple “It is the decision to not extend employment to you beyond your probation period effective today” would have been sufficient.
…unless she wants to imply that he should not be hired as a police officer anywhere again.
And the minute she does that, either implying or outright, under the ‘At Will’ Statute she’s done, and so is Calais. You make a sweeping statement like that without any substanitve documentation other than a ‘poor attitude and ‘Failure to achieve Agency goal’s’ and the above press statement’s and you had better be ready for one whale of a personal defamation suit. And the statement about ‘loss of confidence’ is so general that anyone that is called to Court to testify states under Oath that they have no question in Mills’s ability or judgement and that case is over and Calais might as well turnover the City checkbook for the next 5 years to settle this one. This was, and is, being seen for what it is, namely a ‘wannabe Chief’ deciding who’s loyal and who’s a threat to her position as the Town Manager. Calais’s Town Council had better start real quick to decide if Barnes is worth more as a Manager as opposed to the ‘seen-on-the-wall’ lawsuit’s that are visible and are gonna have to be paid off ’cause sooner or later these case’s always come back like a bad ex- and haunt you.
Ah, maybe he never asked for help, as he would have known the answer. As the rookie, he could have made a quick call to say “hey, can I drop this lady off at the motel room we took those others out of tonight, so she can wait for a ride?”. Instead, he took it on his own to do so, and then lied about it when caught.
Just wondering how Tom Walsh got wind of this, and why he would bother to chase this down. I mean let’s be honest, this really isn’t a huge story… Not like the officer stole or was caught with drugs, etc… He just showed some poor judgement, and no one was injured, etc… No smoking gun, no potential lawsuit. Just a separation of employment. Wow, talk about going the extra mile to generate a story for the paper.
Just a very lightweight story. Sorry Tom, but there’s a lot more news Downeast than this story. This one didn’t really accomplish much other than stirring up the comment section.
he is good
I’m wondering if many of your are ignoring the story between the lines? It appears that in question is whether or not the officer charged her with a lesser charge in exchange for sex? It appears others may have charged her and taken her to jail, instead he chose to cite her with a civil violation, put her up in someone else’s hotel room, then return to that room later (for how what and how long is not indicated but must be known?) and lied to superiors when questioned about returning to the room? Maybe the AG’s office should be looking into this?
This “Comments” column shows once again that people aren’t afraid to make up their minds based on an article in a newspaper. I was an officer with a federal law enforcement union for over 30 years and would never expect media reports to provide all the facts.
Nice to not be the only one up here.
Officer Mills was a great addition to the Calais PD i thought. Maybe Mills had a disagreement with one of his higher ups and they turned their backs on him. Instead of taking this young officer who put so much time in training at the academy under their wing and helping him become a great officer, they pretty much through him to the wolves and tried to end his career before it even really got started.
Being a police officer is a stressful job and for a young officer when your on a call and are being called to multiple others you don’t always make the best decision.
Being fired, instead of maybe being reprimanded and told how he could of handled it different makes me really thing there was a whole different agenda being played
‘The Wheel’ is beginning to come around. And it’s gathering speed and number’s with every day that this goes on.