PORTLAND, Maine — Tim Cotton, the keeper of the Bangor Police Department’s Facebook page and creator of the famed Duck of Justice, retired from law enforcement in July.
After spending 34 years as a cop and working nights, weekends, and every shift you could imagine, he’s earned the right to sleep in. It’s a right he has yet to exercise.
“A man can get kind of lazy,” Cotton said of retirement. You don’t have to be a detective to view that statement with deep skepticism. After all, he’s up and working at an outlandish hour. “I still write early, very early in the morning, three o’clock or so.”
That work ethic has paid off, and Cotton is now out with his second book, a collection of essays—most of them featuring his wry sense of humor—called “Dawn in the Dooryard: Reflections from the Jagged Edge of America.”
“I’ve finally concluded that I am a writer,” he said in the introduction to the book. “I could not tell someone that with a straight face for a time. I can say it now.”
In leaving the police department, Cotton didn’t sever all his ties. He still writes its Facebook page, no doubt to the relief of its more than 330,000 followers. His relationship with the Duck of Justice, however, has moved on to a new stage.
“The duck is in his museum and he sees his people,” Cotton said with a smile. “He’s not called or written since I retired, I can tell you that."