ROCKLAND, Maine — Bert Snow was remembered as one of the last of the true lawmen to walk the streets of Rockland.
Snow, who rose through the ranks to serve as chief of police in Rockland, died Jan. 2 at the Knox Center for Long Term Care. He was 91.
Retired Patrol Officer Stephen Johnson said Snow taught him everything about law enforcement.
“He told me to respect people. Even if you arrest them, when they get out of jail, it’s a new day for them,” he said.
Snow initially was hired in 1959 to oversee the parking meters in downtown Rockland. When the meters were removed in 1961 as part of a Main Street redevelopment project, Snow’s position was eliminated. But a patrolman vacancy opened at the same time and Snow was hired.
He conducted his downtown foot patrols where he would be in daily contact with people. Chief Bruce Boucher said that Snow is one of the last of those types of lawmen.
Snow left the department for a brief period in 1965 to serve as manager of the Knox Pier, which was associated with the brief operation of grain silos on the city’s South End.
In a 1989 interview upon his retirement, Snow recalled that Rockland had improved dramatically from the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he said the criminal element — including motorcycle gangs — nearly took over the city.
Snow was known for regular foot patrols even as he rose to the rank of chief. His popularity was highlighted in November 1984, when 200 residents turned out to urge the City Council to reject the city manager’s nominee for police chief after he passed over Snow — then the deputy chief — for the job. The councilors rejected the manager’s nominee and then ratified Snow as the new chief.
A Rockland native, Snow began work at the historic family shipyard — Snow’s Shipyard — on Mechanic Street in Rockland when he was a high school junior. He served in World War II as a Navy Seabee in New Guinea and the Philippines from 1943 to 1947, earning the rank of boatswain’s mate second class.
A funeral service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock St.
He is survived by Helen, his wife of more than 62 years, as well as a daughter, son, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.