A new police detective is expected to begin work in Waldoboro Monday, Feb. 4.
Waldoboro citizens approved the detective position in 2008 and Lance Mitchell began work in January 2009.
Mitchell vacated the position in July 2012 and subsequently served as a reserve patrol officer in the Damariscotta Police Department.
Mitchell had approximately a dozen open felony cases when he left the department. Labombarde said the open cases include burglaries, child abuse and sexual abuse.
Waldoboro Town Manager John Spear announced the hiring of Jason Benedict to fill the post, at the Jan. 22 meeting of the board of selectmen.
Spear said Benedict served as a 9-1-1 dispatcher in Brownwood, Texas. He was later hired as a patrol deputy and detective. Chief Bill Labombarde said Jan. 23 that Benedict has extensive expertise in computer forensics and identity fraud investigation and narcotics.
“He has very solid investigative skills in all the other areas that are required as well,” Labombarde said.
While most of the complaints the department receives involve assisting citizens who are in motor vehicle collisions, accidentally locked out of their homes or involved in civil disputes with neighbors, Labombarde said last August that Waldoboro has a large number of domestic disputes that are related to substance abuse issues.
He is seeing an increasing number of cases involving the abuse of prescription medications and the chemical combinations often referred to as bath salts.
Labombarde said the immediate calls often interrupt patrol officers when they are in the midst of the detailed work required for investigations, sometimes delaying completion of interviews and reports for days.
The detective would investigate fatal motor vehicle accidents, since liability in such an event could lead to a charge of vehicular manslaughter.
Benedict is a veteran of nine years service in the Air Force and is married with two small children.
Spear said the offer of employment is contingent on approval from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and the results of a polygraph test and psychological evaluation. Labombarde said those were standard requirements for any new hire in the department.
Benedict was interviewed by members of the Waldoboro Police Department and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency as well as Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright and Lt. Mike Murphy of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
