Calaman named new police detective

Det. Kristin Calaman
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — The Houlton Police Department has looked to one of its own to fill a vacant detective position with the force.
    Chief Butch Asselin announced Monday that patrolman Kristin Calaman has been named as the force’s new detective. The position takes effect on Monday, May 9. He replaces Carolyn Crandall who retired from the department on April 12.
    “I am very excited,” Calaman said. “It’s going to be a great change and a lot of fun.”
    Calaman has been a full-time officer since July 2008 and is a graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in May of 2010.
    Calaman was selected after orals boards were conducted last week in the conference room of the municipal building. Participating on the board were Lt. Mark Brooks, Maine State Police Troop F commander; Sgt. John Cote of the Criminal Investigation Division Maine State Police; Sgt. Frederick Parker, Houlton Police Department; Wade Hanson, Community and Economic Development director for the town of Houlton; Donny Ardell, Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Supervisor Shawn Gillen of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
    “It was very impressive to see six officers from the department participating in the promotion process,” Chief Asselin said. “All of the officers did exceptionally well. Four board members individually approached me following the oral board and complimented the officers on their positive attitudes, job knowledge, training and composure.”
    Chief Asselin noted that the board members comments only confirmed what he already knew about his staff.
    Two factors that assisted Asselin in selecting Calaman for the position was his recent investigation into the actions of a postal employee allegedly diverting medication from the Houlton post office and for his followup on the recent bomb threat involving Daniel Maccabee at the Irving Big Stop. Chief Asselin noted that Det. Calaman is a natural interviewer, is tenacious and has the ability to think outside the box.
    Calaman said his job will change considerably in the coming weeks.
    “I will be able to work with all patrols on all of the cases,” Calaman said. “It opens up a lot of time working on a particular case or cases. I will be able to spend as much time as needed investigating cases that hopefully will get them resolved and prosecuted.”
    Additional training will be required, Calaman added.
    “There will some specialized training involved for sure,” he said.
    Calaman’s position as a patrolman is currently being advertised. The application process closes on Friday, May 27.