Robert MacKenzie, Chief of Police Kennebunk and Rotary District Governor 2024-2025, to speak on our Recovery Initiative

 

On June 6, 2023 the speaker will be Robert MacKenzie, a 33-year veteran of law enforcement, serving as Chief of Police with the Kennebunk Police Department. Chief MacKenzie began his law enforcement career in 1988 with Kennebunk PD and rose through the ranks, being promoted to Chief of Police in 2008. Bob is a graduate of the 243rd FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice degree through Husson University.

Bob will be Rotary District 7780 Governor in 2024-2025, is Past- President of the Kennebunk Rotary Club in which he has served for the past fourteen years and chairs the Rotary District 7780 Recovery Initiative. Bob serves on the Board of Directors for Milestone Recovery and the United Way of Southern Maine.

Bob has also been personally touched by the crisis. One of his daughters struggled with heroin dependency and is now in recovery. But that process, he says, is a long and uncertain one.

MacKenzie has been instrumental in organizing District 7780’s Overdose Recognition and Response Seminars. His main goal is to reduce the stigma associated with opioid use, which he says, can be a significant barrier to drug users getting help. He thinks Rotarians can spread the message that the opioid epidemic is not a criminal justice issue, but a public health issue.

“ A lot of people tend to shy away from the subject because they look at it as dirty or evil and want nothing to do with it” MacKenzie says. “They think it doesn’t happen in their town. But guess what: it happens in every town.”

Bob MacKenzie is a 33-year veteran of law enforcement, serving as Chief of Police with the Kennebunk Police Department. Chief MacKenzie began his law enforcement career in 1988 with Kennebunk PD and rose through the ranks, being promoted to Chief of Police in 2008. Bob is a graduate of the 243rd FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice degree through Husson University.