New K9 team enhances capabilities of Windham Police Department

By Ed Pierce

A valuable new officer has joined the Windham Police Department and it’s a responsibility he can really sink his teeth into.

K9 Zeus, a 16-month old Belgian Malinois, has joined the 
Windham Police Department and is paired with his handler,
Officer Sam Pattee. They are currently training for Zeus to
become a fully certified patrol dog with expertise in
tracking, searches, apprehension and narcotics detection.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

K9 Zeus is a 16-month-old Belgian Malinois who is partnered with his handler, Officer Sam Pattee, a four year-veteran of the department. They are currently involved in training for Zeus to become a fully certified patrol dog, meaning he'll be certified in tracking, article searches, apprehension work and narcotics certification.

“I grew an interest in being a K9 handler almost as soon as I got started on the road with Windham PD,” Pattee said. “I assisted K9 handlers from Westbrook PD, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and Portland PD on tracks in Windham for everything from locating elderly citizens who had wondered away to Domestic Violence suspects who had fled from the scene. I quickly realized that Windham needed to have a K9 asset and wanted to be the one to provide it. I was also excited by the idea of assisting officers on a variety of calls and improving the department’s capabilities.”

Pattee said that K9 Zeus came from Boston Police Department’s training barracks and was selected by him with the help of K9 trainers from both the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and Scarbrough PD.

“I was looking for a dual purpose K9, meaning a K9 fully capable of patrol work and narcotics detection,” he said. “I viewed multiple possible K9s but when I met Zeus, I quickly knew he was the one. He was full of energy, fearless and I felt a bond with him from the start.”

Becoming a K9 handler was almost second nature for Pattee.

“Growing up, my family always had dogs. There’s an obvious difference between them and K9 Zeus, those three were pets and farm dogs while K9 Zeus is a working dog, he said. “K9 Zeus is full of more energy than any one person could ever use in a day, but he is also incredibly smart and capable of solving his own problems without needing much of anything from me. K9 Zeus loves tracking and can go all day, being just as excited about it when he’s finished, as he was when he started.”

According to Pattee, K9 training is not an easy task.

“It takes a lot of time, dedication and patience. It takes a level of commitment that you can’t truly understand until you’ve done it yourself. I train with the group called Law Enforcement Dogs of Maine (LEDME) and it requires at least 480 hours of training with a certified trainer before a K9 team can be certified in patrol work,” he said. “In training we work on tracking, article searching, which is locating items that someone may have dropped or thrown, and suspect apprehension. We also conduct scenario-based training which puts both the K9 and the handler through real world situations and helps us be better prepared to make the right decisions on real deployments. The group has a great team of trainers with years of combined K9 experience to learn from and I appreciate everything they’ve taught me.”

The Windham Police Department last had a K9 team about four years ago, but since then has had assistance from other agencies when a K9 is needed or would be helpful.

“Time can play a big factor during certain calls and an available team may be too far away to be effective,” Pattee said. “With Windham gaining a K9 team again, we can improve are response times to situations as having the resource a K9 brings. For example, if an elderly citizen with dementia has wondered away from home and gotten lost in the woods, Windham now has a K9 nearby to pick up that person’s trail and locate them much quicker than waiting for a team from an outside agency.”

Pattee spent his early childhood in Westbrook and then moved to Windham, where he graduated from Windham High School. While still in high school, he joined the U.S. Army Reserves and he continues to serve in the reserves, where he’s been enlisted for 11 years with one mobilization overseas.

He says his girlfriend has been a huge supporter of his efforts to become a K9 handler, which is not easy.

“Being a K9 handler is what you make of it,” Pattee said. “It takes a lot of dedication, and you have to love what you’re doing to make the most of it. You have to be ready to continuously learn and improve your skills as well as being able to understand what your K9 partner is trying to tell you.”

The greatest misconception the public may have about K-9 police dogs is that although patrol certified K9 teams have the ability to apprehend a suspect with force, that is not the primary goal of a K9.

“K9s are a locating tool. This could be locating a suspect who has fled a scene or vehicle, to find a missing person, or helping officers identify where a suspect is hiding inside a building which improves safety for all involved,” Pattee said. “K9 Zeus is a very happy dog and full of excitement every day. He’s not just a tool but also my partner. We are both very excited for the opportunity to serve the Windham community and its citizens. When you see us around town, K9 Zeus may be barking but know he is there ready to help serve and protect the same as every officer from the Windham Police Department is.” <

MTCCA awards recognize contributions of Windham Town Clerk, Deputy Clerk

By Ed Pierce

It was a clean sweep for Windham as Town Clerk Linda Morrell and Deputy Town Clerk Judy Vance were honored for their exceptional service to the community during the Maine Town and City Clerk Association’s 28th Networking Day and Annual Meeting held at the Augusta Civic Center on Sept. 12.

Windham Town Clerk Office members display awards
they were presented during the Maine Town and City
Clerk Association's 28th Networking Day and Annual
Meeting on Sept. 12 in Augusta. From left are
MTCCA's 2023 Deputy Clerk of the Year and
MTCCA's 2023 Clerk of the Year Linda Morrell.
PHOTO BY BECKY WOODBURY  

Morrell was presented with the 2023 MTCCA Town Clerk of the Year Award while Vance received the 2023 MTCCA Deputy Town Clerk of the Year Award. The award program was established in 1991 to recognize excellence both in their contributions to their community as well as to the profession of the municipal clerk and deputy town clerk and are the highest honors awarded by the MTCCA.

Moving with her parents to Windham at age 14 while in her freshman year in high school, Morrell graduated from Windham High School in 1978. She started working as a deputy clerk for the Town of Windham and following seven years of serving in that position, she has spent the last 29 years as the Windham Town Clerk. Before coming to work for the town, Morrell spent eight years as a ballot clerk during elections and was a stay-at-home mother. Her husband was a shift worker and when she was offered the job as deputy clerk over the phone, she eagerly accepted, launching a lengthy career of service to the public in Windham.

Among her duties as Town Clerk, Morrell serves as Windham’s Supervisor of Elections, be it municipal, county, state, or presidential elections. She also oversees two full-time and one part-time town clerk’s office staff members and she’s responsible for the town’s dog registrations; the sales of hunting and fishing licenses; officiating weddings; maintaining the town’s vital statistics; overseeing state boat and automobile registrations; providing notary service; swearing elected municipal officials into office; helping collect tax payments for the town; and serving as the secretary for the Windham Town Council.

She has said that her greatest challenge as Windham Town Clerk is staying knowledgeable about updated rules and regulations and being able to educate the public and training her staff members about those changes, she said.

In 2007, Morrell was awarded lifetime certification for her town clerk duties from the State of Maine at Maine Municipal Association. Through the years, she served the association in various capacities and continues her education to stay current on laws and procedures and completing all lifetime certification requirements. Morrell also met all qualifications and requirements to be enrolled as a member of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, allowing her to use the title of Certified Municipal Clerk in all 50 states.

With all her duties, Morrell puts in many long hours and late nights on behalf of the town, especially during election season and attending every Windham Town council meeting every other week.

Married and the mother of two grown sons, Morrell lives on a farm in town and has said that her work remains as meaningful to her now as it was the day she started.

“I want everyone to know that we are here for them whenever they need us,” Morrell said. “We all enjoy our jobs here and we try to be friendly all the time. We’re fortunate to have a great staff here and the public really seems to like them. I love my job and it is a privilege to serve this community as the Town Clerk.”

Morrell was nominated for the award by Vance and supported for the MTCCA award by numerous department supervisors of the Town of Windham.

Vance is a Windham native who has worked for the Windham Town Clerk’s office for 26 years, serving as the town’s registrar of voters and a Deputy Town Clerk.

Among her many duties, Vance processes all vital records for Windham along with hunting, fishing, and business licenses, and administers two elections per year, with an occasional special election. Her department also helps as needed with processing registrations for motor vehicles, boats, ATVs, and snowmobiles, as well as processing taxes.

Raised in Windham and a graduate of Windham High School and the University of Southern Maine, Vance married her high school sweetheart, and they live in Windham, where they have raised two daughters. Along with their significant others and children, the daughters live in the same neighborhood as Vance and her husband.

Despite all the years of working for the clerk’s office, Vance still finds the job interesting and challenging.

“It seems like every day we’re learning something new,” she said.

She was nominated for the MTCCA Deputy Clerk of the Year Award by Morrell, so those attending the meeting in Augusta said that both Morrell and Vance both knew the other one was getting the award they received but they did not know they were each receiving awards.

The MTCCA Town Clerk of the Year Award is presented annually to a municipal clerk who is nominated by their peers and recognizes excellence both in their contributions to their community as well as to the profession of municipal clerk. Award recipients provide service and contributions beyond just that of the municipality in which they serve by active participation in the state and/or county clerks associations and demonstrate a socially responsible approach toward their community and promoting the cause of good local government.

The MTCCA Deputy Town Clerk of the Year Award is presented annually to a deputy municipal clerk who is nominated by their peers and recognizes excellence both in their contributions to their community as well as to the profession of deputy municipal clerk. Award recipients are honored for their expertise and for work in their Town Clerk’s Office that goes above and beyond what is required by the job title, and they are committed to improving municipal government and their community. <