Deputy Jeffrey Rogers (left) stands with Sheriff Todd Brackett the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 18 after being named the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office 2024 Deputy of the Year. Rogers, a career police officer who previously worked in Texas, has excelled since his arrival on the force in 2021, Brackett said. (Molly Rains photo)
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeffrey Rogers was taken by surprise the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 18, when he was honored as the department’s 2024 Deputy of the Year.
“He’s more than deserving,” said Sheriff Todd Brackett, presenting the award to Rogers before the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners, Rogers’s wife Cathy Rogers, and a room packed with LCSO deputies.
Rogers, who arrived at the meeting believing he was due to give a presentation, was taken aback.
“I am surprised, but thankful,” he said later that day. “It’s a really good place to work. I’m thankful to be there, and just very appreciative of the thought.”
Raised in Ohio and Texas, Rogers began his law enforcement career in Arlington, Texas close to three decades ago. Though Rogers thought he would retire after 29 years with the Arlington Police Department and take up insurance work, he found after a brief stint that he missed working in law enforcement.
“It’s funny. Initially, I wasn’t going to get back into police work,” he said.
He and Cathy Rogers had long planned to move to Maine. Once the couple arrived, Jeffrey Rogers began scoping out local law enforcement agencies.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office appealed to Rogers, he said, because it was apparent to him that Brackett cared about and elevated the work of his team. Rogers joined LCSO in 2021 and said his initial impression has held true ever since.
“It was a perfect fit,” he said.
As a patrol deputy, Rogers works in traffic enforcement, addressing the speeding and traffic-related issues Brackett said are among the most frequent complaints his department receives.
Having a deputy whose primary focus is traffic enforcement was a major goal of the sheriff’s department since about 2020, Brackett said, but the department did not initially have the staff to fill the role.
“(Rogers) volunteered, stepped up, and has really done an outstanding job,” Brackett said.
Rogers focuses his efforts on areas where crashes, including fatal crashes, occur with high frequency or where residents have reported a high incidence of speeding. His goal, he said, is to “try and prevent, hopefully, more crashes.”
Another area that Rogers oversees at LCSO is the department’s new drone program, for which he organizes pilot training and deployment of drones, Brackett said.
Deputy Jeffrey Rogers stands with his wife, Cathy Rogers, after being named Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Deputy of the Year for 2024 during the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 18. “I’m surprised, but grateful,” he said. (Molly Rains photo)
The department had been looking to begin a drone program ahead of Rogers’ arrival, another reason LCSO was a natural fit for his expertise, Rogers said, as he previously led the drone division at the Arlington Police Department.
Drones are useful in police settings for a wide variety of operations, Rogers said. LCSO uses drones to help locate missing people, like children or elderly individuals who may have gotten lost. Thermal imaging capabilities allow the small aircraft to be useful even overnight.
The sheriff’s office also uses the drones to assist fire departments by gathering information about fires including their size, scope, and distance from nearby buildings or firefighting equipment, Rogers said.
Sometimes, drones can be used to gather information about potentially dangerous scenes without putting officers in harm’s way, such as by sending a small drone into a building where a person is hiding and suspected to be armed. Such tactics can save hours of time during a stakeout – and can also reduce the chances of an armed confrontation, Rogers said.
As leader of the drone program, Rogers is working on expanding the ways that the office uses the aircrafts. Some future directions include adding the capability to attach a personal flotation device to a drone in order to deliver it to a drowning person more quickly than humans could and using drones to map crash scenes.
Capturing drone imagery of crashes could reduce the amount of time that roads are closed for crash investigations, streamlining operations, Rogers said.
Ultimately, Rogers said he was glad to be a part of the LCSO team and humbled by the award.
“My future goals are to continue to do the best job I can do every day,” he said. “I was a supervisor at my other job, but here I’m just thankful to be here and keep doing my job to the best of my abilities.”
