After nearly 25 years on the job, Lt. John Allen, 50, of the Wiscasset Police Dept., can’t remember his first arrest but he does recall making a name for himself early on.
“I was the OUI guy,” said Allen who retires June 2. “I made people nervous because I arrested a lot of people for operating under the influence. I was notorious.”
A former police chief, noticing Allen’s tough stance on drunk driving, even recruited Allen for a particularly sensitive assignment: arrest the chief’s father in law who was somewhere in Wiscasset, presumably drunk behind the wheel.
Over the years Allen, a native of the town, has seen Wiscasset go from eight full-time police officers in the late 1980s to the current three.
According to Allen, as with any small town, the change in ranks was due to loss of property taxes, notably in Wiscasset’s case, through the closure of the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant.
Though he has periodically served as the interim police chief, Allen never received the opportunity on a permanent full-time basis; he has however, been a flexible employee for the town who would wear whatever hat was needed.
“I’ve seen changes but Wiscasset is still a great town and community,” he said. “I was walking in the downtown the other day and a 16-year-old kid came up and thanked me. It was a nice gesture.”
Allen, a single father of two at the time, was hired by then Police Chief Mike Reed in 1986 as a freshly scrubbed officer ready to fulfill a lifelong dream. He noted that the types of crimes being committed haven’t changed since he started but the number of arrests for operating under the influence, one time a more socially acceptable activity, has reduced dramatically, said Allen.
“I had one year when I made over 100 arrests,” he said. “The numbers are less than half that. People are getting the message. I’d like to think I had something to do with it.”
Though drunk driving numbers may be down, Allen said he has seen a rise in people driving under the influence of drugs.
“It’s all kinds of different medications and narcotics which can be hard to detect,” he said. “If the intoxilizer is low but the subject still seems impaired, we call in a Drug Recognition Expert.”
Allen said he was especially thankful for the continued cooperation of the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office calling them an “excellent partner over the years.”
The job has also paid off in ways Allen never expected. Early on in his career, he said he “noticed a pretty young woman” who was moonlighting on the town ambulance crew while going to college for a nursing degree.
“One night I finally walked up to her and said if you make me chocolate chip cookies I’ll follow you anywhere,” said Allen. “Lori [the woman] did the next day and I have followed her since. We’re married now; she’s a blessing.”
Despite the many highs of his career, the job has also left a few permanent scars on the veteran officer.
“I’ve seen over 20 fatalities,” he said. “One involved the son of a good friend of mine who perished along with a young woman. I actually had nightmares about that for years. I’m not sure you ever get over those things.”
While Allen isn’t sure what his plans for the future are, he will take the summer off to garden and hike both in Maine and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
He has helped transition fellow officer Kathy Williams into a more pronounced leadership role and thinks, “things will go well.”
As for why he’s retiring, Allen said it was a combination of reasons. “I read about an officer getting killed in the line of duty everyday,” he said. “It’s not easy doing a job that you feel is undermanned. People need to support their local police departments because as a community, you want to make sure you get the help you need.”
