Winslow names top police officer, firefighter of the year

Alexander Jones, a sergeant with the Winslow Police Department, receives his Police Officer of the Year award Tuesday during the annual awards ceremony at the Winslow Fire Department. Presenting Jones with the award were Winslow Deputy Police Chief Randy L. Wing, left, and Winslow Director of Public Safety Leonard Macdaid, third from left. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

WINSLOW — Public safety officials handed out awards to four of the town’s first responders Tuesday afternoon during a ceremony at the Winslow Fire Station.

Public Safety Director Leonard Macdaid and Deputy Police Chief Randy Wing shook hands and gave wooden plaques to two Winslow police officers at the annual event, while Deputy Fire Chief Mike Murphy presented two firefighters with awards. About 20 people attended the event, meant to recognize extraordinary efforts from the town’s first responders.

Alexander Jones, a sergeant with the Winslow Police Department, was awarded Police Officer of the Year for the role he’s played in the creation of Winslow’s Public Safety Department, according to Wing.

“He’s been instrumental in the smooth transition into the Public Safety Department,” Wing said. “He’s really stepped up his game and he’s really assisted me a lot.”

Jones also received an award from the Winslow Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8835, which was presented to him by post Cmdr. Michael Dumont for his service to Winslow’s residents, police force and veterans.

On the fire department’s side, Murphy presented Eric Chamberlain the Firefighter of the Year award for his outstanding service to Winslow’s community and the department as a whole. Chamberlain was hired in late 2022 and has 12 years of firefighting experience. Chief Murphy also presented Michael Greenberg, another firefighter hired in 2022, with the department’s first-ever Professionalism Award.

Sgt. Brandon Lund was given the Police Department’s first ever “Professionalism Award” by Macdaid because “we couldn’t have two police officers of the year.”

“He’s always positive, always happy, always working hard,” Macdaid said. “He’s an unbelievable worker all around and it just rubs off on everybody.”

Winslow Director of Public Safety Leonard Macdaid, right, leads the annual awards ceremony Tuesday at the Winslow Fire Department. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Tuesday afternoon’s event was held just before a joint training between Winslow’s Police and Fire departments, which Murphy said was meant to bolster unity among the town’s first responders and provide inter-department experience to his younger firefighters.

“We have a lot of new guys on my department that are young, so it’s to let them know what they expect from all of us, and what I expect from them as well being their chief,” he said.

Winslow finalized a merger of the two departments into the singular Public Safety Department last year, and though firefighters had previously raised concerns about a lack of communication between the departments, Deputy Police Chief Wing said administrators have been working to hold joint training sessions more frequently.

“We’ve always enjoyed a great working relationship between the departments, but we’ve never really done the joint training,” Wing said. “These trainings are purposely just to make us work better together … We’re a unified department and we’re really working well together, and we figured the training is just going to help pull our guys even closer.”