YORK, Maine – Staff Sgt. Brian Curtin, who retired last week after working for the York Police Department since 1987, said he had two overwhelming passions growing up. He wanted to be a policeman and dreamed of being a farmer.
Curtin said that most of his heroes and role models during his childhood in Braintree, Massachusetts, were police officers.
“One of those heroes was Officer Bill McDonald, who was the city’s security officer who worked with the youth in the community,” Curtin said. “He was a very warm, compassionate and empathetic officer who was larger than life and always greeted children with a big smile and a comforting presence.”
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Back then, the idea of community policing was not just about government-funded programs; “It was just what the police officers did,” Curtin said.
“When I was a really young kid, you could find me in my white gloves and a police hat standing on the corner … Growing up, I always wanted to be that kind of police officer,” he said.
Curtin said he was raised as an Irish Catholic in suburban Boston and attended parochial school through eighth grade. He said he spent a lot of time daydreaming about his passions instead of concentrating on his studies. He then went to an agricultural trade school, Norfolk County Agricultural High School, where half the day was academic and the other half was hands-on instruction in agricultural fields.
“That was a real game changer for me, and my grades improved tremendously by increasing my knowledge and deepening my passions,” he said.
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“Working through high school and into my 20s on farms, landscaping companies and construction companies certainly honed my work ethic and my commitment to working in the soil and growing healthy food using holistic organic principles,” he added.
His police career
At the same time, Curtin took steps to evolve his career toward law enforcement. He became a reserve police officer in Braintree in 1985, worked nights and weekends, then became a full-time police officer in York in 1987.
“Working in a small town like York made it easy to practice the kind of policing my role models had shown me,” he said.
Curtin worked as a patrol officer from 1987 to 1998, then worked as a school resource officer from 1998 to 2000, when he was promoted to sergeant.
He was also assigned to the Maine Academy of Criminal Justice as a Cadre from 2006 to 2007, and volunteered for three years as the leader of the young children of murdered police officers at the FBI Academy.
Curtin’s law enforcement specialties include numerous Incident Command courses, FBI Negotiator, Maine Criminal Justice Academy Instructor, EMT, Police Physical Fitness Assessor, Basic and Advanced School Resource Officer, Instructor ASP expandable police baton, certified through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation as Advanced Critical Incident Reporting and winner of the FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award.
His proudest achievement
Curtin said that in 1998 he was able to deepen his determination to be like “Officer Bill” by researching and developing information on a new surveillance concept: school resource officers assigned to schools full-time.
“I wrote the grant and presented the program to the School Committee. Initially it was a difficult concept to introduce to the school community with some real skeptics, but our approach of adding a caring, compassionate and empathetic adult to daily school life who was working for the protection, education and well-being of our school children the children beat the detractors and the program was born ”, he said.“ This is one of my proudest achievements, and I am very happy to see that the program has expanded and continues today more than 20 years later with many of the same core principles of providing a compassionate, caring and empathetic police officer to help guide our community children to the path of adulthood. “
“I have also found that compassionate and empathetic vigilance is not a hobby,” he added. “It has been an incredible honor to have worked with the officers of the York Police Department, who value and practice this same style of policing every day.
Gained perspective as a parent
Curtin married in 1993 and had three children: Ryan, Cameron, and Mackenzie.
“Becoming a father certainly changed my outlook on life,” Curtin said. “They have all grown up now and are moving on with their lives, which makes me very proud every day.”
Ryan works at Anthony’s and is studying Criminal Justice with plans to follow in his father’s footsteps. “He has many of the same policing principles in a compassionate and empathetic way,” Curtin said. “He will be a great police officer.”
Cameron is currently a first lieutenant in the US Army and leader of an infantry platoon.
Mackenzie has worked in the medical profession in various other industries. In April 2021, she had Curtin’s first grandchild, Bailey Anne. Curtin described the baby as “a beautiful and blessed addition to our family.”
Curtin divorced in 2013 and remarried in 2017. By marrying Samantha, Curtin said he won “four wonderful stepchildren”: Wilson, Keely, Holly and Jonah.
Plans for retirement projects
When he retires, Curtin said he and Samantha are creating “Karass Pastures” which will be a regenerative farm that will produce healthy food in a holistic and compassionate way to increase consumers’ healthy choices of locally produced food.
Curtin said his favorite activities are working cattle, operating heavy equipment, walking his dog Dakota, and general physical fitness.