On July 22, the Cape Elizabeth Police Department held a promotional ceremony and presented two Life Saving Awards, as well as promoting Rory Benjamin to the position of Sergeant. Courtesy photo/Cape Elizabeth Police Department

CAPE ELIZABETH —

The Cape Elizabeth Police Department held a promotion ceremony July 22 for its newest sergeant, Rory Benjamin. 

According to Police Chief Paul Fenton, it was a large ceremony held at the fire station. Retirees, a former sergeant, a former chief and a former dispatchers, as well as numerous members of Benjamin’s family, including his wife and two children, were all in attendance. 

“I thought the promotion and awards ceremony was great,” said Benjamin. “It is always a treasured moment to have friends, family, and coworkers gather to celebrate a special occasion. As for stepping into the role of sergeant, I am excited to face the challenges inherent in a supervisory position. Sergeants are expected to lead by example and instill the core values of the agency. They must exercise clarity, consistency, and accountability every day. The Cape Elizabeth Police Department has a long history of community-oriented, meticulous, and passionate policing. I’m just proud to be able to serve in a role that ensures this legacy is sustained.” 

During the ceremony the department also presented three Life Saving Awards, Benjamin was the recipient of two of those awards. One for interceding when someone was trying to end their life. In the early hours last year, Benjamin was on patrol when he noticed a vehicle parked in a scenic and popular spot for dog walkers. Instead of assuming that the vehicle was related to a dog walker, he took the extra step and decided to check on the vehicle. Once he reached the vehicle, Benjamin discovered a young adult in the process of taking their life. The person had run a tube from the exhaust into the vehicle. Benjamin acted immediately and removed the person from the vehicle and into a safe place. 

He was also involved in saving the life of the young male who had fallen through the ice at Great Pond last past winter. Officer Aaron Webster, who is now with the Westbrook Police Department, also received a Life Saving Award for his actions during the call.

Upon arriving on scene, officers located the male in open water approximately 100 feet from the shoreline. Webster and Benjamin were able to walk on the ice and make it to within 50 feet of the patient before the ice became too thin to continue. With assistance from the Cape Elizabeth Fire Department, Webster entered open water and swam a stokes basket out to the patient. The patient grabbed ahold of the stokes basket and was pulled to safety. Both Webster and the patient were transported to a local hospital, treated, and released.

“It was a big day for him, so he got two Life Saving Awards and promoted to sergeant all in one day,” said Fenton. “Rory is obviously a great officer, one of things he is known best for is that he has the highest score ever at the Maine Justice Academy, so he has the highest academic score in the history of the police academy.  He is obviously an intellectually gifted individual; we’re excited.” 

Benjamin was also given an award by the department as well as the chief of police last year for another Life Saving Award, this would be his third. That one was for an individual who was a gunshot victim in South Portland. 

“It was an accidental discharge of his firearm, and it went into his femoral artery,” said Fenton. “Rory went down there with another officer and they tourniquet him and saved his life. It was actually a South Portland call, but our two officers were monitoring the board and that includes South Portland calls they kind of self-deploy themselves because they knew it could be helpful and were all EMT’s. They sent themselves there and arrived before rescue or before any South Portland officer, they rendered aid until the rescue arrived and put two tourniquets on, rescue said they clearly saved the person’s life.” 

Benjamin began his career with the Cape Elizabeth Police Department in 2008 as a patrol officer and shift supervisor. He earned a bachelor of arts in criminal justice from Syracuse University in 2007. He obtained a master of public policy and management from the University of Southern Maine in 2015, with a dual emphasis in financial and organizational management. 

Benjamin is a certified internal affairs investigator, field training officer, and has served five terms as president of the Cape Elizabeth Police Benevolent Association. He is a Maine Law Enforcement Accreditation Program assessor, having most recently assisted with the evaluation and accreditation of the Brunswick Police Department. He is a certified drug recognition expert instructor, one of only 16 in Maine. He has extensive training in impaired driving investigation and enforcement, having served eight years on the Cumberland County Regional Impaired Driving Enforcement team. He has donated hundreds of hours to the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in training cadets and drug recognition expert candidates. 

“He had some stiff competition as well in that process,” said Fenton. “We were super fortunate to have a great candidate pool, they bring in sergeants from other departments to do the oral boards and every time especially this time they said they are blown away by the caliber of applicants we have here in Cape Elizabeth. Were really fortunate to have a great group. Its a big thing to be promoted here because you are going up against stiff competition every time.”