BIDDEFORD — In 1971, Roger Beaupre was a young man, recently home from a four-year stint in the service. Upon his return, the Biddeford son knew he wanted a career serving his community. For 40 years he’s been doing just that.

On Nov. 19, 1971, Police Chief Roger Beaupre was hired as an officer by the Police Department. Ten years later, he became chief of the department and has remained in that position for 30 years.

Many credit Beaupre with taking a not very professional department and making it one of, if not the, most professional and most respected police departments in Maine.

Beaupre has “transformed the department,” said Councilor Jim Emerson.

“I knew I wanted to be a law enforcement officer” from an early age, said Beaupre. He began his training in the military where he served as a U.S. Air Force sergeant.

When hired as an officer in Biddeford, he distinguished himself among his peers, many of whom hadn’t graduated high school, by taking classes in criminology, sociology, business and other areas. He’s a graduate of the Maine Justice Academy and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine and later a business master’s degree from the former Nason College in Springvale. He’s also taken numerous other courses and earned certifications in many fields.

It was a rapid rise to the top; Beaupre was promoted every one to three years. In 1980, he became acting chief when the chief at the time, Al Morin, was out on sick leave. After Morin resigned in 1981, Beaupre, 29 years old at the time, was officially given the job of police chief, in which he remains today ”“ with no plans to retire any time soon.

In a career that’s spanned four decades, Beaupre has seen many changes both in the city and within the department.

Hired when Biddeford was still a mill town with a bustling downtown, Beaupre said in his early days, “we acted more as private security for downtown businesses.” He said it was the officers’ jobs to go door-to-door to the businesses on Main Street, making sure the doors and windows were secured.

When Beaupre was first on the job, the department was located in the bowels of City Hall.

“There was no in-service training, equipment was non-existent and there was one law book in the back room,” he said. “Officers had to buy their own guns and bring their own pens and paper to work.”

Over the years, Beaupre has been at the forefront of implementing changes to improve the safety of his officers and the service they provide for the citizenry, all while the number of calls the department handles has skyrocketed.

One of the first changes was moving the department from the City Hall basement to its current home on Alfred Street.

He has overseen the development of a more professional and highly trained department. Most new hires hold college degrees and receive continous on-the-job training.

Beaupre was one of the first to put mobile terminals in his department’s police cars, said Deputy Police Chief JoAnne Fisk. These allow officers to have immediate information on anyone they pull over or arrest, which improves efficiency and saves money.

He was also instrumental in researching and implementing a city-wide radio communication system put in place in 2005. This was only a few years after the destruction of the World Trade Towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, which illustrated the importance for such a system in order to quickly provide aid in the event of a man-made or natural disaster.

In addition to the improved service to residents that is provided by the departments’ ability to talk to one another over a radio system, Beaupre was able to accomplish this at little cost to city taxpayers. The lion’s share of the $2.5 million cost of the system was paid for by federal grants secured by Beaupre.

His other accomplishments include the addition of resource officers at the schools, creation of a proactive domestic violence enforcement that was a model for departments across the state, development of a police tactical team, acquiring a close working relationship with the Code Enforcement Office to deal with property issues, creating a centralized dispatch and obtaining, placing officers with other departments to increase the effectiveness of drug enforcement, and many other actions.

He has also been very effective in securing state and federal grants to pay for a number of the programs he’s implemented.

In addition to Beaupre’s accomplishments for the Police Department and City of Biddeford, he’s done this with the ability to earn the respect of those with whom he works, both in and outside of his department.

Deputy Chief JoAnne Fisk said she was hired by Beaupre in 1980, “when it was unheard of to hire females to work the roads.” Fisk, who left Biddeford for a number of years to work at other departments, was rehired in 1998. Of all the chiefs for whom she’s worked, said Fisk, Beaupre “is by far the best.”

Not only for his open door policy, his belief “there are no stupid questions,” and his concern for his officers’ safety, but also, she said, for his innovative thinking.

“He’s very talented, very educated,” said Public Works Director Guy Casavant who often works closely on city projects with Beaupre.

Regarding the city-wide communications systems with which Casavant was also involved, he said Beaupre’s work “changed an antiquated system to a very up-to-date one” that has greatly improved the city’s emergency communications.

From a personal perspective, said Casavant, “I learned a lot on how to run a department from him.”

With all the turnover and change that has bedeviled Biddeford City Hall for years, “I find it amazing that he has remained chief for 30 years,” said Emerson.

This long service, said Emerson, serves as a testament to Beaupre’s success in his position and the respect of those who work with him.

“He’s served the city extremely well,” said former Mayor Wallace Nutting. “He’s been in the forefront of technological advances that put the Biddeford Police Department way ahead of the rest of the state.”

Nutting also noted the many volunteer activities in which Beaupre has been involved, including service with the Biddeford Athletic Department, his church and the annual La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival, all of which he’s been involved with for many years.

For his part, Beaupre said he has been generally happy in his position, with the people he works with in his department and others throughout the city. He said he plans to continue working for the people in the city of his birth for as long as he’s able.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.