BANGOR, Maine — The police department’s newest hire was out of the country on business last Christmas serving the country as a helicopter pilot for the 126th Aviation Medevac unit in Kuwait.
Bangor native Benjamin Paradis, 28, graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s police officer training program on Dec. 20, and started his job with Bangor Police Department the following week, which included Christmas.
His hiring helps to fill a gap created by a string of recent retirements from the force, that started two years ago when Bangor officials learned there were 28 officers who were either already eligible for retirement or would become eligible by Jan. 1, 2014.
Bangor, which has an authorized strength of 81 officers, was down nearly 10 officers at one point last year and created a recruitment video to attract more applicants. Other law enforcement agencies around the state faced the same situation, with Portland having six openings, and Maine State Police with 25.
That number has fluctuated with retirements and hirings but as of Friday the city was six officers short, Lt. Paul Edwards said. He added that four recruits may be heading to the criminal justice academy in Vassalboro in January, which would drop the number to just two.
Paradis was one of 50 new officers for the state and 12 Maine State Police trooper recruits to graduate earlier this month, with other local hires, including Joshua E. Tilton for Old Town Police Department and Camron T. Barrieau for Orono Police Department. Portland Police Department had a dozen officers on the list.
“You now begin a life of service in a career unlike any other,” Auburn Police Chief Phillip Crowell and Maine Chiefs of Police Association president, told the new officers. “You’ve answered a calling to adversity and purpose, to danger and honor.”
The 12 trooper recruits began patrolling with a veteran trooper after graduating and will attend an additional 10 weeks of State Police training at the police academy, beginning in February.
As a newcomer to the Bangor Police Department, Paradis was given the night shift. His parents, Deborah and Eric Paradis of Bangor, changed the time of Christmas dinner to accommodated their son’s new schedule.
“We just ate later in the day and worked around his schedule,” Deborah Paradis said. “It certainly beat having to Skype him last year.”
Paradis and the rest of his unit returned from their overseas deployment in January of this year and “we had Christmas when he came back from Kuwait,” his mother said. He joined the 126th in 2002 and was on active duty, but is now a reservist with the Maine Army National Guard unit.
“We are happy to have Officer Paradis as a new member of our department, and we are confident he will serve the citizens of Bangor with the same honor and integrity with which he served his country,” a press release from the Bangor Police Department said about his hiring.
His parents also are extremely proud of his accomplishments.
“He just loves what he is doing and he’s happy and that’s all I can ask for,” Deborah Paradis said.