Chief Jeff Lange officially entered into his new duties as Wiscasset Chief of Police on Monday, May 23, in a ceremony at the town office.

Lange was welcomed by the town’s police officers, who brought in cake and punch to celebrate.

Lange asked his friend Richard Belanger, formerly a detective with the Paris Police Department and now a deputy marshall with the Judicial Branch of the State Marshall Service, to aid him with the pinning of his new shield. Belanger was a former Marine who served with Lange in Iraq.

Lange spoke to citizens, town officials, school official and the media as he identified the needs of the department and his goals for improving the department. He began by praising his new officers.

“The current members of the Wiscasset Police Department are skilled, knowledgeable, dedicated officers that take a lot of pride in this community. I think together with the continued support of the town’s people, we can make this the best police department in all of Maine,” he said. Addressing the town manager and the selectmen, he said, “We will need your help to properly fund the training and provide the equipment necessary to keep this department moving in the positive direction. I will be coming in front of you soon with planning and strategy to improve this organization and I will be looking for your input as well. We have a duty to work together in the interest of public safety.”

To school officials, he pledged, “I will work with you closely to develop and improve policies and procedures to guarantee the continued safety and security of our children. This will start with the much needed school resource officer position who will receive specialized training for the mental health issues he will be facing with our youth. The SRO and the Wiscasset Police Department will be involved with after-school and summer programs, DARE and Police Athletic Leagues type programs just to name a couple. The SRO will be an extremely important part of this process building those relationships.”

And to the media, he pledged an open-door policy, and challenged the media to report on the good news that he said would be coming from the department, as well as other news.

To the people of Wiscasset, he pledged that “Our goal is to protect you and serve you with the highest quality of police service. If there is one thing I have learned from my experience, the importance of public safety is not whether we are big or small but determining what is right or wrong. Right and wrong, good moral values, and integrity are not measured by big and small departments. They are measured by well-established codes of conduct, honor, and community involvement. We will do the right thing.”

Interim Chief Jerry Hinton, who had stayed on board to help Lange get his feet under him, said goodbye to the officers and left the celebration quietly. He said he was looking forward to his much deferred retirement at last.