MAINE
Franklin County
Sheriff Scott Nichols
In 1999, he was promoted to sergeant within CID and supervised five detectives in the same unit. During his career with the Maine State Police, he obtained an associate's degree in Applied Science from Southern Maine Technical College in the field of Law Enforcement Technology. He also became a cadre supervisor at the Criminal Justice Academy and oversaw the training of new police officers for the 4th, 5th & 6th Basic Law Enforcement Training Programs. During his tenure with the State Police, he spent fifteen years as a member of the Tactical Team where he received two medals for bravery and one for meritorious service.
Upon his retirement from the Maine State Police in 2004, he embarked upon another adventure as a security contractor in Iraq. While there, he was a team leader in charge of seven civilian police officers. Their job was to work with Iraqi police units located in the “red zone” north of Baghdad. This duty was extremely dangerous and entailed spending long days in hostile areas.
After fulfilling his one-year contract in 2005, he returned to Maine and continued working for the Maine State Police as a trooper patrolling Franklin County again. “This was a great opportunity to reconnect with “the road” and the citizens of the county”, he said. In 2008, he prevailed over twenty other candidates to become Chief of Police in Carrabassett Valley. ‘What an experience it has been to be able to work with a community and tailor the mission of the department to the specific needs of the community it serves,” Nichols said.
After consulting with his wife, family, and the leadership of Carrabassett Valley, he decided to put his 28-plus years of law enforcement experience to work for all of Franklin County by running for Sheriff in 2012, eventually prevailing in both the primary and general elections.
Sheriff Nichols was selected by members of the Maine Sheriffs Association to serve as their 1st Vice-President in 2022. He represents Maine’s sixteen sheriffs on the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s board of directors. He also serves as one of the two sheriffs appointed to the County Corrections Professional Standards Council, created in statute in 2022.
The Nichols' family has lived in Franklin County for at least 200 years. His father’s side of the family originated from the Camp Ground Road in East Livermore, and mother’s side from the Rangeley area.Scott met his wife Lorna (Rowe) whose family lived in Beans Corner Jay in 1983. They have been married over 39 years and have spent the past 37 years in New Sharon. They have two children, and three grandchildren.
Sheriff Scott Nichols was born and raised in Farmington, Maine, graduating from Mt. Blue High School in 1979. After graduation he joined the Army as a paratrooper and served three years of active service. He continued his military service for an additional three years serving in both the Army Reserve and National Guard. During this time Scott applied for and was accepted into the State Police eventually graduating from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy located on Silver St., Waterville, in 1984.
After graduation, his extensive law enforcement career began as a Maine State Trooper working out of Troop C (Skowhegan), patrolling in Franklin County. Scott returned to the academy in 1987 and 1989 as cadre for two State Police schools. In 1994, he was promoted to Detective in the Criminal Investigation Division for the Maine State Police working out of the central Maine office in Augusta.