Many who follow Bangor Police Department’s Facebook page known how funny it is, but recently, the rest of the nation has started to catch on. The page, started in 2010, only had about 10,000 likes when Sgt. Tim Cotton took it over in 2014. In just a year and a half, the page has increased to 83,000 followers and spiked nearly 11,000 more followers over the last two weeks when The Washington Post ran a story titled “This may be the only police department in America with a funny Facebook page.”
With 27 years under his belt as a police officer, Cotton felt the time and culture was right to introduce some levity into the page’s daily posts. His unique sense of sarcastic and satirical humor has been influenced growing up watching Saturday Night Live sketches and reading Mad Magazine, as well as The Onion, P.J. O’Rourke, and Dave Barry.
“I enjoy sarcasm, but I also think you can use it and not hurt people,” he said. “It can be a mean form of comedy, but I try to use humor to make fun of the police as well. Self-deprecation is the key to life. You can tell when someone begins to talk about themselves, if they are overstating their skills, but if you just fall on your sword and point out your own faults in a funny way, it lets everyone know we’re all human, we all have flaws. And I think people will always respond to that better.”
Here are some gem posts from the Bangor Police Department’s Facebook page in the past few months:
“Two men stole a very expensive electric ice auger from a sporting goods store at the mall. A day later the same guys came in and each took a crossbow and a compound bow. The video is being reviewed. I say they are from out of state as we all know that the batteries in an electric auger will only last about 3 minutes when it is 25 below. Watch for them, they will be the guys shooting arrows at the ice when the auger dies. They will be caught. Or hospitalized by a ricochet.”
There’s the time this past November he had to rebuke the international singer, Katy Perry.
“I mentioned yesterday that Katy Perry was at the Fusion; Fire and Ice Extravaganza. It was incredible to meet her.
Sadly, just prior to the Fusion Awards, the Chief of Police and I checked every car in the Husson University parking area for minor violations. Oddly, the only issue we discovered was on Katy Perry's vehicle.
We share this to point out that we play no favorites. Whether you are Katy Perry or any other famous, former, resident of St. Albans, Maine, you need to put your registration stickers on your plate. It is a simple task. Even though KP advised us that she had not done it due to the possibility of getting her thumb dirty.”
Narcissism, it can get you a summons.”
The page’s primary audience is split 60 percent women and 40 percent men, according to Cotton, with the average age range skewing between 25-65. The Bangor Police Department leverages the fans that they attract with the funny stuff into helping them do community policing as well. When the department puts out a photo on a suspect or witness, many of the page’s fans share the information, which assists in finding the individual.
Cotton said, “Since we’ve started using the Facebook page, about 80 percent of the pictures we run, we find that person within 24 hours.”
Here’s a post made regarding two unidentified young shoplifters in October:
“The individuals in this photo are enjoying an evening shopping at Kohls. For the record and just to be clear, Kohls SELLS clothing.
Selling is an ancient tradition in which one person or entity has something that another person or entity would like to have. In this tradition, the person that wants to take the item home would give the owner of the items something of value in return for the privilege of doing this. It really has been going on for a long, long time.
Apparently history is lost on one of the young men in this photo. One of them has determined or maybe forgotten, that the passing of the item of value (in this case, money) is really one of the most important steps in the process.
We understand. We are only running this photo so that others will know that this is not the way to complete a sale.”
Though Cotton tries to keep a balance between jesting and light ribbing, not everyone, of course, is a fan.
“We get some nasty comments sometimes,” he said. “Overall, we have about 95 percent support, but there is a lot of animosity toward police officers. Everyone thinks we’re sitting out there eating donuts, waiting to give tickets. But we’ve got a job to do.”
The Washington Post article pointed out that what might work for a city like Bangor, in a state like Maine, may not necessarily work for communities where tensions between the police and citizens are high.
“You have to put your money where your mouth is,” Cotton said. “We really try to do as much community-related service as we can, and have our officers be human out there and interact with the public in a positive way. But granted, we also have to arrest people who are committing a crime, and not everything can be warm and fuzzy.”
Cotton said that other police departments around the country have responded to the page, asking how they might be able to incorporate humor into their work as well. The public perception is that most police are authority figures and can’t afford to use humor.
“A lot of cops I know have a great self-deprecating sense of humor,” he said. “But, if you don’t present it right, it can come off wrong.”
He cites one police department’s page he followed early on that would routinely mock suspects with derogatory terms.
“It was a constant berating of that particular populace and it didn’t take into an account that everybody has a human side and a back story. When I put someone’s photo up there that we’re searching for, once we identify the suspect, I’ll typically take the post down. We’re not looking to hurt people, just trying to use the page to solve the crime.”
Locals have responded well to Cotton’s style. Midcoast resident Bill Packard said, “I would have to say that the post about the guy that dove into the pool to try to get away in December was one of my favorites. Overall, what I really like about the page is that it evokes a human aspect to things that are not always comfortable. This is just the way it is. We do what you do because you do what you do. No hard feelings on this side. And we all could lighten up.”
Cotton’s main sidekick, a taxidermy American wood duck he calls the Duck of Justice, probably has enough fans of its own to start its own Facebook page. The DOJ often accompanies Cotton on his daily trips in a variety of themed outfits.
“If ever there is a next time I get pulled over, I sure hope the Duck of Justice is riding shotgun with the BPD officer,” said another Midcoast resident, Nathaniel Bernier.
Right now, fans are following updates about the DOJ coming back from a recent trip in Las Vegas with one of Cotton’s colleagues.
“I got a call from a Pittsburgh sergeant who knew the DOJ would be coming through the airport at midnight,” Cotton said. “She told me she wasn’t working that night, but she really wanted to go and get a photo of herself with the DOJ.”
What happened in Vegas though, the DOJ has been sworn to secrecy and to keep under wraps.
Don Colson, also one of the page’s fans, echoed what many others also believe: “The Bangor PD has got it right. I really hope other departments are paying attention. Take a little time to know the people. IT WORKS!”
Visit Bangor Police Department’s Facebook page
Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com
