Bath Deputy Police Chief Andrew Booth will become the city’s next chief of police later this month — succeeding outgoing Chief Michael Field.

Field announced his plans to retire last month.

Booth was hired in 2002, serving in a number of roles including patrol officer, patrol corporal, drug detective and detective sergeant. He was promoted to deputy chief in 2019.

The city received two applicants for the open chief position, Booth and a police lieutenant from Brunswick, Georgia.

Booth was unanimously selected by a panel of city and community leaders. The city council confirmed his appointment Wednesday.

“Deputy Booth brings the same tools and approach to law enforcement as his predecessors,” said Bath City Manager Peter Owen. “That’s is he brings integrity and professionalism to his approach in providing fair and equitable public service.”

Booth’s colleagues applauded him for his professionalism when meeting with the local organizers of Black Lives Matter protests last year and helping the department review its policies on biased-based policing and hate-biased crimes.

Booth also coordinated with the organizers of a nine-week strike of Bath Iron Works’ largest union last summer.

“He was key in working with those groups and minimizing confrontations and conflicts,” said Owen.

He also serves as Lieutenant Colonel with the Vermont Army National Guard, which he joined in 1998, and has two year-long deployments to Afghanistan under his belt.

Though he has continued to move through the ranks in both the Bath police department and the Army National Guard, he said being named chief is “the highlight of my law enforcement career because I’ll have the honor of leading this great department. I’ve been extremely lucky to find such a good department to work for.”

When selecting the city’s new police chief, Owen said it was important to him that the next chief is mindful of the department’s connection with the community and develops policies that maintains that positive relationship moving forward.

Booth said he intends to continue the community-oriented policing enforced by Field because “I love that interaction with the public.”

“Throughout my career as a Bath police officer, I’ve taken out statement of values to heart which are community service, professionalism and integrity,” said Booth. “As chief, I plan to continue Chief Field’s hard work toward continuous improvement and involvement in community service.”

Officers in the department are involved in community programs and organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program and Bath Housing. They also offer programs that help residents install child car seats correctly and allows disabled, elderly residents who live alone to call the department each morning. If the department doesn’t receive a call, an officer will call or go check on the resident.

Most recently, the Bath police department joined a national program that supplies police officers with fentanyl test strips, a tool officers and health officials believe could reduce accidental drug overdoses.

In his new position, Booth said he’s aiming to get the department accredited by the Maine Law Enforcement Accreditation Program within his first year as chief, a process he has already begun.

Booth said his biggest challenge as chief will be filling the two open officer positions and an open parking enforcement position within the department, but he said that’s easier said than done. Just like other industries statewide, from restaurants to nearby Bath Iron Works, Booth said law enforcement is facing a hiring shortage.

“The only issue that we’re seeing here locally is the recruiting and retention of good officers because the job market is tight and everyone is hiring,” he said. “Twenty years ago, we’d get 30 to 50 applicants for a position. Now, we’re lucky to get one to five, it’s that bad.”

Booth’s first day as chief will be Friday, June 25.