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2/9/10
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town council Mass. man selected as Lincoln’s new police chief
LINCOLN, Maine — A 30-year-old Massachusetts man with extensive experience is on track to become the town’s new police chief next month, officials said Monday.
Acting on Town Manager Lisa Goodwin’s recommendation, the Town Council voted 6-0 Monday night to make a conditional offer of employment to Scott Minckler of Northfield, Mass., as top cop. Councilor Rod Carr was absent.
Minckler, who will command a department of six full-time officers and some part-timers, will start on March 1, Goodwin said.
Chairman Steve Clay said the council accepted Goodwin’s recommendation without reservations.
“He is a young guy, but from what Lisa was told he can handle the job,” Clay said Monday. “He has worked in bigger departments and smaller ones. From what Lisa said, his references checked out great.”
A sergeant in the police force of Northfield, Minckler was that town’s acting police chief from 2008 to 2009 and also worked for the Massachusetts towns of Hubbardston, Chatham and Bernardston, Goodwin said.
He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State College and is a graduate of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Academy, Goodwin said.
“Scott is community-oriented and will be a great fit for Lincoln,” Goodwin said in a statement.
“He is currently very involved in the Northfield community as a baseball and football coach and believes that participating in community events is essential for opening communications between citizens and the police department,” Goodwin added. “With Scott comes a fresh vision for the direction of our Police Department.”
Minckler was among 17 applicants for the job.
The town had been searching for a permanent replacement for former Chief William Flagg since he resigned his position on Aug. 25 to pursue a teaching career. A Milford resident, Flagg took a full-time but temporary position with the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, his former department, as a patrol officer, while waiting for a teaching position to open.
The search was resumed in October when the first attempt ended with just six applicants, a number Goodwin and the council deemed insufficient. Previous searches had drawn as many as 19 candidates.
Fire Chief Phil Dawson, a retired state police officer, has acted as the department’s interim chief since Flagg left.
The department also is hiring to replace Officer Chad Chubbuck and Sgt. Kevin Giberson. Giberson left the department to rejoin the Millinocket Police Department, while Chubbuck said he was fired for failing to comply with the town’s residency requirement, which mandates that officers live within 15 miles of Lincoln.
Town officials had rejected his appeal of the requirement, and he described the parting as amicable.
More officer hirings should occur shortly, Goodwin said.
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Recent comments
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irishproud....ever hear the words "No Irish Need Apply"...we were ALL foreigners once!
Now who will they use for a scapegoat?
Why did the government sue the cigarette companies but did not make them take out all that added addictive stuff?
Hopefully he can do a better job than the others did.
We wish him luck..time to clean Lincoln up, but he can't do it alone!
Hopefully his insight into his job brings with it the vision that illegal activity within town parking lots is unacceptable and those committing crimes must be held accountable.
MaineMaiden, I agree with you, but he can make the arrest but the DA is the one who makes the decision on more serious cases.
Good news for Lincoln and it's citizens that they have a "full time" chief to take over the operations of the town....I must, and this is IMHO, question how a 30 year old can have "extensive experience"?? After high school attending a higher level of schooling for law enforcement and obtaining a bachelor's degree would involve 3 to 4 years, and then any "criminal justice" academy / training would be several months up to a year, so with my simple mind that would give him time to have worked about 6 or 7 years at best full time in the business....he has also in that short period of time worked for 4 different police departments.....again, I wish you all the best in Lincoln but if this is the best candidate out of the initial 17 and the final pool of 6 applicants than so be it I guess....sorry if I seem a little pessimistic....Good luck to Chief Minckler......
He was also the crossing guard in grade school, Pam.
Like others before him, he'll come in here with high hopes and ambitions but eventually those will be beaten into submission when he has to go up against the handful of "town fathers" who rule this town. The "good ol' boy" network is alive and still rules in Lincoln. The over/under on how long this police chief lasts is 2 years. Get your bets down now.
PabMainer - I agree wholeheartedly. How can a person with so little time on the job (skipped around and worked for at least four towns over his 6-7 years of service) be referred to as having "extensive experience". Was he a police chief in any of those towns? No, only a sargeant.
Good luck to you sir ... you'll need it.
As a guy who moved to Maine in 2003, I would say that it isn't his law enforcement skills or experience that will be the problem. His biggest problem will be the local MAINERS (non of whom are Native Americans), who resist any people FROM AWAY getting jobs up here, or even having any new ideas (ie: town politics).
I've heard this tale, over and over again, from people in small cities and towns all over Maine. People who are born in Maine RESIST and RESENT anybody from out of State and their FLATLANDER WAYS, although I would guess-timate that about one half of people who were born in Maine after WW II have moved out of State and are taking jobs and land in the lower 47. :)
RogerNV, we don't like OBNOXIOUS outastatas, and some, not all, of you, are.
Just another Ma$$hole.
Poor Bastid'. In Lincoln,Maine he's going to find that his "extensive experience" doesn't mean crap. He has no idea what he's getting into.
Yeah, REALLY, Snarky,
not to mention that half the college grads in Maine leave the state - must be because of all them outastatas, hey?
PabMaine and Northwoods_Maine, If you do the math right factor in that he might have finished the academy and went into being a officer, while getting experience he earned his degree at night. So you might just add those 3 or 4 years back on to his time served. I really hope to see him get ride of the good ole boys and their ways. It is antiquated and back woods. Equal protection under the law is law.