Retiring police officer describes his career as one 'big April fools joke'

The date, April 1, will mark exactly 40 years since Officer David Kearns was hired - or what he calls the greatest April Fools' joke anyone's ever played on the town of Gorham.

''It's his line, but we don't disagree with him,'' said Chief Ronald Shepard, who was hired a year after Kearns.

Though the longtime colleagues are quick to rib each other, they hand out compliments equally as easily.

''He's been a dedicated officer since the day he started and will be until the day he leaves,'' Shepard said.

Kearns, 64, is the third longtime Gorham police officer to retire in the past six months. Officer Wayne Coffin left in October after 35 years, and Sgt. Robert Mailman, a 29-year veteran, retired in January.

''There's a big hole in this department,'' said Lt. Christopher Sanborn.

Kearns' co-workers describe him as a ''street cop'' who's intimately familiar with Gorham's people and places, and is a fixture in town.

''Some people say I was bred for this job,'' said Kearns, whose two grandfathers, parents, three uncles and brother worked in law enforcement.

The job has changed in the past four decades. When Kearns was hired in Gorham, he was one of four officers on the force, and the town's population was about a third of what it is today. Now, the town of about 15,000 people is policed by a 23-person department.

Still, the gist is the same, Kearns said.

''People call; we go,'' he said. ''No matter what it is. Because the Police Department is the only thing that's open 24-7 in this town.''

Though much of the work requires officers only to lend a hand - or an ear - Kearns has been involved in plenty of harrowing incidents, one of which forced him to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

There were rewarding moments too.

Kearns recalls going to a fair, where a woman introduced him to her teenage daughter. ''This is the man that saved your life,'' he said the mother told her. About 15 years earlier, Kearns had given CPR to the girl, then a baby, because she had stopped breathing.

Good or bad, Kearns said, police officers never know what will happen each day they go to work. That constant stress, he said, is something he's happy to leave behind.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

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