Let's Talk About Dave: Henry's Pretty Proud of His Dad
After 23 years and 7 months, David Kerns is Officially appointed Bar Harbor Chief
BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor Police Chief David Kerns’ youngest son, Henry’s three-year-old heart was already excited about his dad’s profession in law enforcement. When he brings the cruiser home, it’s a big hit.
“He is very infatuated that I’m a police officer,” Kerns said.
Now? Henry has another thing to be excited about. This Tuesday, November 21, the Bar Harbor Town Council officially voted in his dad as Bar Harbor’s police chief, a highlight of Kern’s 23-year-long career at Bar Harbor.
Kerns has been the acting police chief for both Bar Harbor and Mount Desert since former Chief James Willis retired in August. The current chief-sharing agreement written between Mount Desert and Bar Harbor has to be updated before Kerns is signed on there as well. Willis had been an employee of Mount Desert. Kerns will continue to be an employee of Bar Harbor.
Kerns said he met with new Town Manager James Smith to talk about the chief sharing agreement and finalize some details. The initial job posting was for Mount Desert and Willis had been an employee of that town. The towns have shared a chief and officers for the past ten years.
“I’m super excited that we can continue doing what we’ve done for the last ten years,” Kerns said.
Willis only had praise for Kerns, and said, “I've known Dave for around 15 years and had the pleasure of working with him for 10 of those. He is a smart, thoughtful, and considerate professional who genuinely cares about people and doing things correctly.”
Smith officially began just last week and agreed.
“His reputation proceeded him even before I came to Bar Harbor. He’s known throughout the state. He’s really a solid guy,” Smith said. “I’m really looking forward to working with Dave.”
Councilor Matthew Hochman said during the appointment process, “I think this is the right choice.”
Council Vice Chair Gary Friedmann said it was a wonderful opportunity to promote a talented and worthy individual from within the ranks.
Kerns was unanimously appointed, 6-0, during the meeting. Councilor Joe Minutolo was absent.
When he started in Bar Harbor, Kerns was part-time, still in school, and hoping to become a Maine game warden.
“It was funny because that first summer that we worked, in the middle of the summer, two sergeant positions came open, it created two full time positions,” he said. Those positions were for officers. Kerns applied for one, partially because he wanted to practice his oral boards for the warden service. Those interviews and examinations are part of the process for both agencies.
“And then I got hired,” he said, laughing.
The rest is history.
Past Police Chief Nathan Young allowed Kerns to finish his last semester while working. Kerns was studying wildlife ecology. His focus was criminal justice.
“I really never looked back,” Kerns said. “Twenty four years—it’s all gone by really quickly, especially the last ten years.”
Henry isn’t the only one happy. Kerns’ wife and two other sons (one a junior at Ellsworth High School, the other in seventh grade) are, too.
“They know that my dedication from being here all these years has brought me here. They are really excited,” Kerns said of the new position.
He is too. Though he lives in Ellsworth, one of the things he’s the most excited about is the community
“To be a part of the community for 24 years, I’m still connected. The service that I’ve been able to provide for the community here has kept me connected,” he said. Those connections, he hopes, will potentially grow stronger as he leads the police force, a position he didn’t dream about as a child.
“I never really had that calling for municipal law enforcement when I was young,” Kerns said. He gravitated toward the warden service because it involved being outside and helping the community. His mother’s brother was a state trooper, so law enforcement is in the family.
“As a young cop, you never know what law enforcement is, what it really is,” until you’ve experienced it on a daily basis, he said. “There are a lot of bad days.”
And there are a lot of good ones, too. Kerns hopes to increase the number of good ones for both the officers and the community by focusing on programs and opportunities like the recent mental health liaison position.
“I’m really looking forward to doing that and building on that. For our community, that’s really a plus,” he said. “Jim (Willis) did such a good job getting things ready.”
“Many of the responses and events the PD received compliments for in recent years were managed by Dave,” Willis said. “His ideas and initiative led to many successes for our team. Dave knows how things work within both communities and has formed valuable relationships within them to help him accomplish the PD's mission of providing the best service for the communities while keeping everyone as safe as possible. I wish him the best and look forward to watching him grow as a leader within the community and profession.”
Kerns said he’s also ready to put his own mark on the departments that he’s been serving for so long, including finding efficiencies while keeping up the level of services to both towns, and insuring that Bar Harbor can still recruit and retain officers. The departments have hired two new part-timers, Lucas Keene and Shelby O’Neil. Both officers grew up in the community and have parents who have worked for one of the towns.
“That’s been since the chief retired,” he said. “That’s promising to me that we’re still able to recruit and retain people for this area.”
Bar Harbor’s chief has to deal with issues specific to Bar Harbor as well, including things like cruise ship disembarkation rules, safety protocols as a town where international visitors arrive, or just a town where millions of tourists arrive, as well as things that were discussed at the Town Council’s meeting Tuesday night (Nov. 22) like parking meters, kiosks, and the closing of School Street.
“It definitely carries a different weight at this level. I don’t really have buffer anymore,” Kerns said. He stressed that the department tries very hard to stay out of the political arena and tries to be fair and impartial in policing.
“I really appreciate the opportunity from both towns. They didn’t have to select me. I’m excited for what the future holds,” Kerns said.
Disclosure: The author used to part-time dispatch for the Mount Desert Police and Fire Departments.