The Wiscasset Police Department is welcoming a summer intern to its ranks this year. Natalie Bonneau, a junior at Husson University, is helping in the harbor master’s office in the morning and working in the police department in the afternoon, several days per week. She has a double major in criminal justice and psychology.

Bonneau said she is helping the department prepare for the accreditation process of the Committee on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, known as CALEA. “CALEA standards, for instance, require that juvenile records be separated from adult records,” she said. “I’ve been working on that, going back 20-30 years.”

Bonneau is taking a couple of courses this summer so she will be a full year ahead in her studies. Although this would be her last year, she will also have a full year at the police academy before she graduates with her criminal justice major.

She came to Wiscasset through a family connection. Bonneau is dating the nephew of School Resource Officer Craig Wooster. He passed on word that Wiscasset was looking for an intern. She had first applied to the police department in Lewiston, where she lives, but did not hear back from that department until she had accepted Wiscasset’s offer.

“I’m looking for something at the federal level,” she said about her future plans. “I’m thinking the Drug Enforcement Agency, or Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.” She would also be open to a position in Naval Criminal Investigative Services (the subject of the NCIS television shows), or perhaps Homeland Security. First, however, she would work in a smaller town for a year or more before seeking a job with the federal government.

Working in the morning for Harbor Master Levon Travis, Bonneau is earning a small salary by greeting tourists and giving directions, but her internship with the police department is unpaid. She said she has been excited to help outfit the harbor master’s office with small items for sale, including candy and other sundries. Her favorite part was designing towels and sweatshirts, which will be made for sale next year.

“I hope to come back to visit,” she said. “This is a job I enjoy doing.”