From NYPD to Maine: Former New York City officers now serving and protecting Kennebunk

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Kennebunk police officer Lorenzo Bacchi recently got a call from a woman whose dog had gotten loose and run away.

“I love animals,” Bacchi said. “I was eager to help her find it and catch it. I work overnights, so I made it my mission.”

Bacchi searched through the dark of night for the wandering pet, treating the assignment as a project, embracing it as “something fulfilling that I could work on.”

The canine proved elusive during Bacchi’s shift, but, thankfully, eventually was located and returned to its owner.

Sounds routine, right?

Not if you’re Bacchi or his fellow officer Kristin Kirby, both of whom have joined the Kennebunk Police Department in recent months after serving at the New York Police Department in recent years.

A case of a runaway dog?

“At NYPD, it wouldn’t be a call,” Bacchi said. “You wouldn’t be invested in it.”

Bacchi started with the KPD back in November, after a brief time with the South Portland Police Department, according to town documents. Kirby is even newer at the department. She started there in February.

And she, too, savors the change of pace. Kirby said she recently helped when a youth had run away and appreciated being able to see the matter through.

“Usually, we would just take the paperwork, and that’s that,” Kirby said, referring to her NYPD days. “We wouldn’t really find out what happened to them, when they were reunited or not.”

Here in Kennebunk, though?

“I did get to see that, which was definitely a lot different,” Kirby said.

Both Kirby and Bacchi said they often would get multiple calls for help elsewhere as they were already at a scene, answering one. As they tried to resolve the issue in front of them, a handful more would be waiting for them when they were finished.

Not so in Kennebunk.

“You have a lot more time to fully handle a situation, and not just quickly go to the next thing,” Kirby said. “You really have to invest your time and energy into helping a person with whatever they call for, or whatever the situation may be. In the city, you don’t have time for that.”

Bacchi and Kirby have more in common than their respective eight and seven years of service at the NYPD. They’re both from the same hometown, West Islip, on Long Island, and both graduated from the same high school. They discovered their high school connection only recently, as Bacchi graduated in 2006, two years ahead of Kirby.

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While at NYPD, Bacchi served with the Emergency Services Unit (ESU) after graduating from the NYPD ESU Specialized Training School, according to town documents. He also held an emergency medical technician license through the state of New York and was a volunteer firefighter from 2005 through 2011 for the fire department in West Islip.

Bacchi is also a veteran of the Marine Corps and served in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said he is the first police officer in his family. He said he made friends and received a lot of training and experience during his years at the NYPD, but the long daily commute and other quality-of-life factors had him looking for something different and new.

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Meet Kennebunk police officer Kristin Kirby

Kirby said she hails from a family of police officers. She said she made friends and had some “interesting, exciting moments” during her years with the NYPD, but in time wanted something different.

“I was just looking to slow down a little bit,” she said.

During her time at NYPD, Kirby served in the 111th Precinct in Bayside Queens, where she was named “Officer of the Month” three times, according to town documents. She served as the precinct’s youth coordinating officer, and she has been trained in counterterrorism, active-shooter response, and crisis intervention. She holds an associate’s degree from Suffolk County Community College in applied science and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and photography from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

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Both officers love Maine and had visited the state before moving here. Bacchi started visiting Vacationland in 2018.

“It’s just so nice and pleasant and pristine,” he said. “It was the lake life that really sold me.”

Kirby said she had visited Maine many times throughout her life before calling it her new home. She rented homes on some occasions and made sure to hike and enjoy nature.

“I definitely fell in love with Maine,” she said.

And, as with Maine, both officers are enjoying being a part of Kennebunk and its police department.

“I couldn’t be happier,” she said.

Bacchi agreed.

“I don’t work a day in my life,” he said. “A lot of the reason people want to become cops is to help people. Here, you get to follow up and invest and be compassionate with the work. It’s rewarding. It’s very rewarding.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Former NYC officers now protecting, serving Kennebunk, Maine