Home Appointments Sheriff
Sheriff
Knox County Sheriff's Office, Maine
| Appointee | Donna Dennison |
|---|---|
| Role | Sheriff |
| Organisation | Knox County Sheriff's Office, Maine |
| Domain | Law Enforcement |
| Start | 1 January 2007 |
| End | 1 January 2019 |
| Notes | First woman elected sheriff in Maine history; remains the only woman to have served as county sheriff in the state |
Donna L. Dennison was elected sheriff of Knox County, Maine in November 2006 and took office on 1 January 2007, becoming the first woman elected sheriff in the history of Maine. She won what local press described as one of the closest sheriff's races in Knox County history, and was also the first Democrat elected sheriff in Knox County in seventy years. She was re-elected in 2010 and 2014 and retired in January 2019. She remains the only woman to have served as county sheriff in Maine.
Background
Dennison joined the Knox County Sheriff's Office in 1980 and served the department for twenty-six years before her 2006 election, rising through patrol, investigations, and command roles. Knox County is a coastal mid-Maine jurisdiction with a population of approximately 40,000.
The state-first claim is firm: the Maine Sheriffs' Association coverage, Knox County's own historical record, and the press coverage of her retirement in 2018 all describe her as Maine's first woman sheriff. No earlier woman has been documented at the office level in any of Maine's sixteen counties.
