SOUTH PORTLAND — Timothy Sheehan, police chief of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, for 10 years, will replace longtime South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins when he retires in January, City Manager Scott Morelli announced Friday.
Sheehan is an FBI-trained officer who has been with the Tewskbury Police Department for 32 years and has received numerous commendations, most notably for providing tactical support to the Boston Police Department following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Morelli said.
Timothy Sheehan has been named South Portland police chief.
Sheehan will start his duties here on Jan. 13, and Googins has agreed to stay on for a week to help with the transition, Morelli said. Googins has been South Portland’s chief for 25 years, a job he took after retiring from the Portland Police Department in 1994 with 23 years of service.
Sheehan said he’s grateful to be Morelli’s top choice among 14 applicants, five of whom were interviewed.
“I plan to work tirelessly to earn the respect of the members of the department and community and I recognize I have some really big shoes to fill,” Sheehan said in a written statement. “I look forward to rolling up my sleeves … to build on the service the police department provides to the community and the trust-filled relationships that have been established.”
Morelli said a nine-member interview panel made up of municipal department heads and the city’s Civil Service Commission unanimously recommended skipping a planned second round of interviews and urged Morelli to offer the job to Sheehan immediately.
“(Googins) has helped make the South Portland Police Department the best in the state, in my opinion,” Morelli said. “The selection team was confident that Tim was the right person to succeed Chief Googins and I’m looking forward to both the stability and new ideas that he can bring to the table.”
In August, Sheehan was a finalist for a chief’s position in Palm Bay City, Florida, the Lowell Sun reported. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Springfield College and a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Western New England College. He is a graduate of numerous leadership and management programs, including the FBI National Academy.
Last year, Sheehan served as incident commander of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council for the four-day statewide mutual aid response to the Columbia Gas explosions and fires that shut down parts of Andover, North Andover and Lawrence after the governor declared a state of emergency.
In June, Sheehan received the Law Enforcement Exemplary Leadership Award from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health in recognition of his involvement and collaborative efforts in addressing the opioid crisis, an issue that Googins also took steps to address in South Portland.
“I would like to thank and congratulate Chief Googins for his incredible dedication to the South Portland Police Department and community,” Sheehan said. “His forward thinking and commitment to the profession has resulted in developing a police department that is guided by the best available police principles, practices, and training that all revolve around improving the quality of life of the populations he has been entrusted to serve.”
Located near Lowell, Massachusetts, Tewksbury’s population and police department are slightly larger than South Portland’s.
Tewksbury, with more than 31,000 residents, has 79 full-time police personnel, including 62 sworn officers, nine civilian dispatchers and eight 8 civilian support staff, Morelli said. South Portland has more than 25,000 residents and 60 full-time police personnel, including 56 sworn officers, one mechanic, one animal control officer and four civilian support staff.
Morelli said he sent nine applicants to be assessed by Badgequest, the same firm that assessed candidates for Portland’s police chief search earlier this year. Five finalists were selected from that group.
“We had an excellent pool of candidates from which to choose,” Morelli said. “Despite that, Chief Sheehan still rose to the top.”
Like Googins, Sheehan’s annual salary will be $101,982, Morelli said. Sheehan and his wife are currently looking for a home to rent in South Portland.
A date for Sheehan’s swearing-in ceremony will be announced soon.
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