Ouellette retires from Troop F

   HOULTON, Maine — The State Police’s highest-ranking officer in Aroostook County has retired.
Lt. J. Darrell Ouellette of Stockholm ended his state police career with 33 years of service when he retired this week. Ouellette has been the commanding officer of Troop F in Houlton since 2002. Prior to that assignment, Ouellette spent the majority of his career investigating homicides, including nine years as head of the state police’s northern criminal division, supervising death investigations in Maine’s five northernmost counties.
According to Steve McCausland, public safety spokesperson, no replacement has been chosen. “Interviews are likely in the next few weeks,” McCausland said. “In the meantime, the three sergeants will share the administrative duties of Troop F.
The Chief of the State Police, Colonel Patrick Fleming, said, “Darrell Ouellette has spent most of his adult life serving and protecting the citizens of Maine.  He was one of the State Police’s most experienced homicide detectives.”
Ouellette was twice honored by the department for resolving tense standoffs, including in Presque Isle in 1990 when he singlehandedly disarmed a man wielding a knife after posing as a cable television repairman. That incident was later highlighted on the TV show “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol”.  Ouellette, who has taught at the University of Maine at Fort Kent for several years, will continue to teach criminal justice there.