State salutes Windham officer for keeping impaired drivers off roads

Windham Police Department Patrol Captain
Raymond Williams received the DRE
Lifetime Achievement Award during the
annual Drug Recognition Expert training
in Cape Elizabeth on Tuesday, Sept. 14.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

By Ed Pierce

Through the years, Windham Police Patrol Captain Raymond Williams has been instrumental in training hundreds of police officers across the state in the techniques of detection and processing alcohol and drug impaired drivers. For his diligence at protecting Maine motorists and keen ability to recognize impaired drivers before they harm others, Williams has been recognized by the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety and the Maine Criminal Justice Academy for his lifetime contribution as a Drug Recognition Expert and his devotion to keeping Maine highways safe.

Williams received the DRE Lifetime Achievement Award during the annual DRE training held in Cape Elizabeth on Tuesday Sept. 14.    

James A. Lyman, State DEC Coordinator and Jamie Dionne, Maine Bureau of Highway Safety, Impaired Driving Programs Coordinator, presented Williams with the award and they said that the honor is well-deserved.

“He has been part of a core group of instructors that are passionately teaching these skills in the Basic Law Enforcement Training Program as well as regional classes and within his own agency,” Lyman said. “Ray has taught in most all the DRE schools since 2003 and has taken on a mentorship role helping new DREs as they learn new skills. For his years of dedicated service and overall contributions in removing impaired drivers from Maine roadways, in addition to his leadership and support for the Maine Drug Recognition Expert program, Raymond S. Williams has been presented with this DRE Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Williams is a native of Cumberland and following graduation from Greely High School, he attended Southern Maine Community College and earned an associate of science degree in law enforcement technology. 

His first job in law enforcement was as a reserve officer for the Windham Police Department and he was hired as a full-time police officer by Windham on Sept. 4, 1986. 

In March 1987, Williams graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, and he went on to successfully complete the Drug Recognition Expert School in 1991. At this time, Williams is the last active member   of that first DRE School in 1991 still serving with his department.

He’s worked for the Windham Police Patrol Division for 20 years, 13 of those as a motorcycle officer.  In June 2010, he accepted an interim detective’s assignment to the Criminal Investigations Division and was awarded the position permanently the following summer. 

Williams worked investigations until November 2014, when he was promoted to Sergeant by the police department and was reassigned to the Patrol Division as one of two Evening Shift Commanders. He was promoted to the position of Patrol Captain in December 2020.

As a certified instructor for the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, Williams teaches Standardized Field Sobriety Testing and is also teaching Active Firearms and Urban Rifle Instruction there. He is a Drug Recognition Expert, skilled in the use of the Intoxilyzer 5000ES equipment to detect alcohol impairment and in firearms. 

He’s run the Windham Police Department’s firearms program since 2006 and has been the department’s armorer since 1993. Williams also launched the department’s first Motorcycle Unit using forfeited assets he seized in a traffic stop from a drug courier transporting drugs from Connecticut to Maine. Enough money was seized to fund the Motor Unit, K-9 program and purchase other equipment not in the normal budget.

Windham Police Chief Kevin Schofield said that Williams has been part of a core group of instructors that are passionately teaching these skills in the Basic Law Enforcement Training Program as well as regional classes and within his own agency.

“Ray has taught in most all the DRE schools since 2003 and has taken on a mentorship role helping new DREs as they learn new skills,” he said.

Williams plans on finishing his career with the Windham Police Department and will have racked up more the 35 years on the job when he does retire. <