Boudreau Courtesy / Jim Boudreau
WINDHAM — Growing up in Weymouth, Massachusetts, as the son of a lifelong firefighter, Jim Boudreau said he always knew he wanted a career in public service but “I didn’t necessarily know I’d become a police officer.”
On Dec. 17, Boudreau retired from the Windham Police Department with over 37 years of experience under his belt.
When he joined the Windham department in May of 1983, things looked very different, he said. It was an 11-man force and the department itself was only 7 years old.
“We did very basic police work back then because things were a lot less complicated as far as the requirements that you would need to do on each type of case you might deal with,” he said.
Among the changes Boudreau has seen is the social justice and Black Lives Matter movements that have created a national conversation on policing.
“I think there are a lot of good ideas floating around,” he said.
On racial injustice, Maine’s “makeup is a little different,” he said, so the issue “doesn’t seem to be as crucial as it may be in places” with a more diverse population.
Still, he said, “it’s not that we don’t understand” the issue.
Boudreau said the “theory” behind diverting funding from police departments in favor of social services, mental health and drug counseling, and other non-law enforcement services is “good,” especially since law enforcement has “kind of by default taken on the responsibility of taking on mental health.”
Boudreau began his career in law enforcement after he graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a degree in criminal justice in 1981 and took a temporary position with the Kennebunkport Police Department as a patrolman.
He worked there on and off for about 15 months and by the time funding for his position ran out, “I was kind of hooked,” he said.
He graduated as valedictorian from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in November of 1983, worked his way up from patrolman to detective, a position he held for 21 years, and eventually became a lieutenant before his title changed to Criminal Investigations Division/Special Services captain after a department restructuring in 2017.
Windham Police Chief Kevin Schofield said Boudreau’s “meticulous attention to detail,” work habits and “iron-trap memory” will be difficult to replace.
“He is known as our walking encyclopedia,” Schofield said.
As of now, Boudreau doesn’t have any immediate plans but “looks forward to the conclusion of the pandemic so he can fully enjoy the next stage of life with his wife, Kathy, their children and grandchildren,” read a post on the Police Department’s Facebook page.
When asked what experience will stay with him the most, he answered: “I have never not wanted to come to work. This is a job where you get a lot of self-satisfaction and self-fulfillment.”
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