CARIBOU, Maine — The Maine Children’s Trust will soon honor Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan with a “Community Partner Award” for his efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect.
Gahagan has served the Caribou Police Department for 44 years, 12 of them as chief.
During its annual recognition event in Portland on Oct. 19, the Maine Children’s Trust will present Gahagan the award, which also recognizes his involvement with numerous community organizations and his focus on preventing crime at an early age.
Gahagan said he was “appreciative and humbled” when he learned about the award.
Gahagan is involved in numerous organizations and committees such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, and the International Law Enforcement Association. He also serves as co-chairman of the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention Advisory Committee, and is on the executive board for the Aroostook Council for Healthy Families.
He said, through these organizations, he is able to bring in perspective for himself and the Caribou Police Department as a whole.
“We’ve worked on taking abused kids out of homes,” Gahagan said, “making sure they’re in a safe environment.”
The chief said much of the department’s work is focused on educating the community and preventing crimes from happening, which he said is far more cost effective than reacting to crimes after they occur.
“Sometimes when parents see a law enforcement officer in the store, they’ll tell their child that if they’re not good, he’s going to take you away,” Gahagan said. “We try to educate parents and tell them that’s not a good thing, because if their child is in trouble we want them to go to the uniform, not away from it.”
Gahagan said he’s currently working on educating officers about opiate addiction, and how many addicts are left without choices.
“Once they get addicted, the choice is no longer there,” Gahagan said. “They don’t have that free will anymore. We’re educating law enforcement officers, especially some of the older ones who think everybody should be arrested for drugs because they made the choice. The education part is learning that some don’t have a choice and it may not be their fault, and that we need to get them help instead of putting them in jail.”
As far as local youths are concerned, Gahagan said that a major issue is idle time.
“The kids who say there’s nothing to do here aren’t really looking,” Gahagan said. “There are all kinds of organizations and clubs they could get involved with that will cut down on their idle time, which unfortunately gets everyone in trouble, not just the kids.”
Gahagan said social media can often help police discover those responsible for boredom-related crimes such as destruction of property or senseless vandalism.
“They always have to tell their story, and we always like to listen,” Gahagan said. “We have a couple officers assigned to social media — it’s actually part of their job description.”
For over four decades, Gahagan has focused on preventing youths from committing crime, educating himself and his staff, and community involvement.
“It’s an honor to be recognized for something you do naturally,” Gahagan said. “My whole life has been about prevention.”
