Sheriff Ross attends Ky. training session

BANGOR – Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross brought more than souvenirs back from a trip this summer to Kentucky.He brought back better ways to effectively meet the growing law-enforcement needs of the county.

Ross attended a four-day national training program in June, put on by the National Center for Rural Law Enforcement, an organization that runs these programs to aid policing agencies in rural areas.

More than two dozen law enforcement officials from about a dozen states attended the mid-June conference held at Lexington, Ky.

What Ross said he found was that despite coming from such diverse backgrounds and regions, the sheriffs and police chiefs at the program faced many of the same issues, from jail crowding to drug abuse to management issues, such as attracting and maintaining the best personnel.

“The struggles that we have day to day are national, not local,” Ross said Wednesday.

As well as providing at least a modicum of reassurance that he’s not alone in dealing with some of these issues, the contacts now give Ross access to other resources on which to draw when needed.

For example, one of his counterparts just built a new jail facility, an idea Penobscot County officials are looking to as a long-range solution to crowding at the Penobscot County Jail.

Ross also said there are new ideas about programs to help reduce inmate populations as well as different ways of supervising those inmates in custody.

New contacts developed through the program steered Ross to some potential grants, funding he said about which he might not otherwise have known.

There also were suggestions on how to be more effective in applying for existing grants.

“Having these types of contacts is invaluable,” the sheriff said.

One session Ross attended offered information on how to deal with an increasingly diversified community, specifically how to avoid stereotypes and misconceptions of other nationalities and to be aware that some words taken for granted have other connotations to other nationalities.

Ross was also alerted to other things to be wary about.

Consistently other officers told Ross to be prepared for the onslaught of methamphetamine, which has been seen in this state and even in Penobscot County, but not to the degree officials from other states said it has hit them.

Adding to the danger to enforcement is that the drug can be made using some common ingredients. Officials fear that makeshift meth labs will sprout up, exposing police officers to hazardous and potentially explosive chemical combinations.

Brewer police earlier this month raided a motel room and believed they thwarted a potential meth laboratory. A number of ingredients used to make the illicit drug were found in the motel room.

Like the influx of injected drugs prompted police agencies to adopt procedures to avoid being stuck by an infected needle, Ross said the expected influx of meth will prompt new procedures and precautions.

And he predicted agencies will be working closer with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

The June 13-16 training provided Ross with excellent training, he said and was paid for through federal funding.