SKOWHEGAN — Selectmen Tuesday night confirmed Detective Sgt. Daniel Summers as interim police chief.

The vote was 4-0, with Selectman Donald Lowe not in attendance.

Summers, 45, will take over in mid-September when Deputy Police Chief Dale Lancaster leaves to become chief deputy for the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department.

Police Chief Michael Emmons is scheduled to return from Afghanistan in early November. Selectmen also agreed Tuesday to wait to hire a new deputy chief until Emmons returns.

“It shows that they have a lot of faith in me, that they trust me,” Summers said Tuesday. “I appreciate the opportunity to do this and look forward to it. It means a lot to me that people in leadership can place trust in me until the chief gets back.”

Lancaster said Summers is the logical choice for the interim position.

“Sgt. Summers has the institutional knowledge; we’ve been discussing personnel and budget issues and I feel he has an excellent grasp of the topics,” Lancaster said.

Summers grew up in Skowhegan and graduated high school in 1985.

He served four years in the U.S. Air Force, recruited by Skowhegan’s current town manager, John Doucette Jr., who was the local recruiter at the time. While stationed at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, Summers studied aircraft maintenance at Western Oklahoma State College.

Upon his return to Maine, Summers was employed as a corrections officer for six months and worked as a reserve officer for the Madison Police Department beginning in June 1989.

He was hired full time by the Skowhegan Police Department in October 1989 and completed training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 1990. He was a patrol officer in Skowhegan until 1994, when he was promoted to detective and later patrol sergeant.

He was promoted to detective sergeant in 2007. Summers worked as a resident agent for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency from 2005-2011 and studied criminal justice at the University of Maine at Augusta.

The Skowhegan Police Department has a roster of 14 full time officers, including Lancaster. There are six reserve officers and a part-time office secretary.

 

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