BANGOR, Maine — Two men who have been second-in-command of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department are vying to take the helm after longtime Sheriff Glenn Ross retires later this year.
Allen Stehle, an independent, is facing off against Chief Deputy Troy Morton, a Republican, in November’s election. Both men have been campaigning across the county, walking or riding in parades, setting up signs and promoting their candidacies on social media.
Morton has spent 25 years in the sheriff’s department after starting out with the county in 1988 as a jail corrections officer. He was hired by Sheriff Ed Reynolds and was promoted to run the transportation division for the jail. He stepped into a cruiser in 1996 as a rural patrol deputy. He climbed the ranks, including time spent leading drug and child abuse investigations, and ultimately was tapped to serve as chief deputy in 2002.
“Having experience in all parts of the agency has been helpful and allowed me to see what our department’s all about,” Morton said. In 2013, he was named manager of the year by the Maine Sheriff’s Association.
Stehle is president of Bangor-based Beal College, which offers programs ranging from accounting to law enforcement. He served as chief deputy under Ross, resigning after less than a year on the job, citing personal and professional reasons. Ross then appointed Morton as his replacement.
Stehle started out in law enforcement in 1977 as an inspector with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where he investigated the illegal trade of endangered species. He then served as a police officer for three years in Hooksett, New Hampshire. Stehle served as a taxpayer specialist with the Internal Revenue Service and began teaching at McIntosh College in Dover, New Hampshire. In the years that followed, education became a priority with Stehle, who taught at the former Mid-State College in Lewiston, then became its president.
“I have been one leg in education and one leg in law enforcement for my entire career,” trying to improve police departments across the state by training quality police officers and investigators in Beal College classrooms, Stehle said during a recent interview.
Both candidates said education would be a vital part of their roles, whether that be by reaching out to at-risk groups of children or educating seniors on how to avoid becoming victims of fraud.
Stehle said the county needs to work to control its jail population, which has been overcrowded for years, creating unsafe conditions for both inmates and guards.
Morton said the sheriff’s office should continue to work closely with area health officials to stem the biggest driver of crime in the county and state — drug abuse.
In a letter to the editor earlier this month, Ross announced that he was endorsing Morton in the race. Ross said early this year that he plans to retire after 36 years in law enforcement.
There is no Democrat in the race for Penobscot County sheriff. Former Bangor police Chief Don Winslow announced his candidacy as a Democrat early on, but withdrew soon after learning his cancer had returned. He died July 10.
Election Day is Nov. 4. The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot to vote in advance of the election is Thursday, Oct. 30.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter @nmccrea213.