Overview of the Lewiston (Maine) Police Dept.

Lewiston residents are proud of their community and they are equally proud of their Police Department .

From its humble beginning in 1858, the Lewiston Police Department has grown from a three man force who were paid a dollar a day, to Maine' s second largest municipal department, and one of its most respected.

Under the direction of the Chief of Police, the department's 83 sworn officers and 14 civilian employees are divided into four separate divisions.

The largest is the Patrol Division...the uniformed officers. Under the direction of the Deputy Chief of Police who oversees all of the Department's field operations, this division is under the command of three Lieutenants and seven Sergeants over three separate shifts. Members of this division are active in Community Oriented Policing and many more are participating in an innovative pilot project to develop a model for Enhanced Neighborhood Policing. The department has developed several neighborhood sub-stations to help in this effort.

The Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of its Commander and Sergeant of Detectives is the plain clothes, investigative arm of the department. C.I.D. also includes the Youth Aide Unit which deals with juvenile matters. The division also provides coordination and supervision to those investigators assigned to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Central Maine Violent Crimes Task Force.

The Support Services Division and the Administration Division round off the department's organizational structure .

November of 1986 marked the beginning of a new era for the Lewiston Police Department. It was then that the department moved into its new modern facility.

The station features spacious locker rooms with showers for male and female officers alike; multiple interview rooms for privacy; a well equipped evidence processing area; state of the art polygraph equipment; a modern communications area linking the department with every major agency in the nation; 9-1-1 capabilities ensures immediate communications with other local public safety agencies and; on the near horizon, the Print Trak computerized fingerprinting system.

The Lewiston Police Department has recently upgraded its computer aided dispatching and records management systems which enables members of the department to search for and retrieve information more quickly and efficiently.

Good physical conditioning is a must in police work, and to that end, the department is equipped with its own multi-station gymnasium, allowing officers and family memebers to work out during off duty hours.