Mayor makes mark in campus enforcement

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OLD TOWN – It’s not often that a person earns the title “An Institution of our Association.”

Old Town Mayor and City Councilor Alan Reynolds has been given that honor by the campus law enforcement organization.

Reynolds worked in law enforcement for 39 years and he joined the Northeast Colleges and Universities Security Association in 1972. He was spotlighted in The Clipboard, the organizations’ newsmagazine, earlier this year.

“The first detail I worked at the university [UMaine] was as an Old Town officer when [President John F.] Kennedy came,” he said. “I was out in the parking lot, but I could see him. I was also there when [Vice President Spiro] Agnew was here and when Jessie Jackson was making his run [for president].”

Celebrated Israeli general and defense minister Gen. Moshe Dayan also visited UMaine during Reynolds’ term. Over the years, Reynolds said, he’s met quite a few celebrities.

“I met some famous entertainers like Diana Ross when she was just getting started, and Bill Cosby,” he said. “It’s been interesting.”

During the 31 years at UMaine he’s also seen his share of tragedies, murder and mayhem.

“We had an individual hold another individual hostage and threaten to shoot students as they crossed the quad,” he said. “The university is a city. We had all the situations that any other town or city has.”

Terrorists, people hiding in the heating ducts of the gym and stalkers also top the list of unfavorable characters Reynolds has had to deal with during his career.

Reynolds also remembers numerous traditional pranks college students play.

“There was always something different,” he said. “They took a sheep into one of the dorm rooms. They put pennies in the doors to wedge them closed. I arrested the first [Earth Day] streakers when they ran down the middle of the mall.”

He also dealt with students making fake identification cards, a gambling ring, peace demonstrations, alcohol problems and 27 Bumstocks.

“They went from some pretty bad situations to a pretty smooth operation now,” he said about the annual gathering of bands at UMaine.

The biggest change over the years was the university law enforcement gaining police power.

“When I went to the university, we weren’t carrying weapons,” Reynolds said. “When I first went there [UMaine], we were basically a security agency. Then we got our powers, and we made a difference in how we dealt with things.”

Advances in technology have also improved how things at UMaine run. Today dispatchers can check on their computers to see if a dorm door is opened.

Reynolds started in law enforcement after he ended a four-year stretch as a medic in the U.S. Navy. He was working for a security agency in Bangor when a friend told him about a job directing traffic for the Old Town Police Department during Christmas time.

“I went down and applied and went on as a reservist,” he said. “The following June, I went on full time here. When I left here, I went to the university.”

Reynolds has a wealth of memories from his four years of service in Old Town as a patrolman and crime scene photographer and then working his way up the ladder at the University of Maine.

“I worked myself up the ranks,” he said. “I worked as an investigator, a sergeant, a lieutenant and then as the only captain position they ever had.

“Then the department chief left, and I was acting deputy for a month. Then the chief left, and I was acting chief for eight months,” Reynolds said. “Finally I was selected as director of public safety in April of 1974.”

Reynolds retired from that position in December of 2000.

UMaine Lt. Alan Stormann, who is also an Old Town city councilor, said he worked with Reynolds for 20 years.

“When I first really got to know Alan, it was in the back of an ambulance,” he said. “He was a police officer for Old Town and I was a junior fireman. That was back in 1965, and at that time a fireman and police officer rode in the ambulance. We’ve been working together in some sense ever since. It’s been a lifelong friendship.”

Mentoring young law enforcement personnel is a strong suit for Reynolds, said Stormann.

“He’s been a good mentor over the years,” said Stormann. “He’s created a lot of opportunity for young people to get into law enforcement. There is a whole bunch of people who worked for that man who are working for other agencies now. He really enjoyed bringing young people into the career and giving them opportunity.”

Both Reynolds and Stormann grew up in Stillwater. Stormann said Reynolds has strong ties to the Old Town community, his church and his family.

“He is a good guy, and he’s always been a nice person,” Stormann said. “He’s a hell of a dad, and he’s always there for the family.”

Over the years, Reynolds served NECUSA as executive president and president and was treasurer for 12 years.

“Al Reynolds served NECUSA with great distinction for over three decades,” the article in The Clipboard stated. “His years of service and dedication to the association during many difficult years have helped ensure that NECUSA remains the oldest campus law enforcement association in the United States.”

Jim Ferrier, past president for NECUSA, said Reynolds is a leader and a person of respect.

“Professional associations are dependent upon the willingness of individuals to volunteer their time and commitment, and no one had given more of either to NECUSA than Al Reynolds,” he said.