BANGOR, Maine — Penobscot County’s new sheriff, Troy Morton, donned his new dress uniform for the first time Tuesday, vowing to continue working to build agency partnerships to fight substance abuse and mental health challenges that are growing across the state.
More than 150 county officials, staff, local politicians, friends, family and members of several area law enforcement agencies, including a large contingent of sheriff’s deputies, attended Tuesday morning’s swearing-in and pinning ceremony at the historic county courthouse on Hammond Street in downtown Bangor.
“We know we have a lot of challenges,” Morton said after the event. “We have tremendous substance abuse problems across our state, we have mental health issues across our state.”
Both of those issues trickle down to the overcrowded, underfunded county jail system because a shortage of programs for people suffering from addiction or mental health issues means those individuals end up in jails instead, officials in the sheriff’s office have argued.
Morton started as a Penobscot County Jail corrections officer in 1988. He became a patrol deputy in 1996, and he was appointed chief deputy by Ross in 2002.
Morton was elected in a Nov. 4 race, receiving 64 percent of the vote against independent candidate Allen Stehl. Morton’s salary for 2015 will be $75,805.
In his first official act as sheriff on Tuesday, Morton swore in Sgt. William Sheehan as his chief deputy. The chief deputy serves entirely at the discretion of the sheriff.
Sheehan earned a criminal justice degree at the University of Maine before his career started as a corrections officer at the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office in 1994. From 1998 to 2003, he served as a patrol officer for the Orono Police Department before returning to the sheriff’s office as a patrol deputy. He was promoted to his sergeant position in 2007.
“We’ve got a lot of great ideas and areas we want to target,” ranging from elder abuse and fraud to advocating for improved mental health services, Sheehan said. “We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
After Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony, retiring Sheriff Glenn Ross attended his last weekly meeting with the county commissioners. Ross, one of eight sheriffs retiring in Maine this year, will turn in his badge, gun and other sheriff’s department equipment on Wednesday, his last day on the job.
Ross said that during his 12 years as sheriff, he tried to be as accessible as possible, returning every phone call he got from the public, building partnerships with other agencies and having an open-door policy with his employees. He says he expects Morton will continue that.
“I couldn’t be happier, because I know the mission we’ve established for the department,” Ross said. “Troy Morton and Will Sheehan believe in the value of our agency and will carry on our department in the way we’ve been accustomed to.”
Tuesday’s ceremony also meant the swearing in of other Penobscot County officials, including Probate Judge M. Ray Bradford, Jr., Commissioner Laura Sanborn, Treasurer Dan Tremble, Registrar of Deeds Susan Bulay and District Attorney Christopher Almy.
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