CPD promotes officers to lieutenants

The promotions are part of geographic policing.

By Lyndsie Manusos

Published Sept. 22, 2009

The Columbia Police Department will honor three promoted police lieutenants in a ceremony on Friday, a CPD news release stated. The promotions are a step in implementing Chief Kenneth Burton's new geographic policing system.

Each new lieutenant will in essence be responsible for a quarter of the city, CPD spokeswoman Jessie Haden said.

"The lieutenant promotion allows us to take geographic policing to the next step," Haden said. "What we are striving for is to have supervisors and line officers responsible for a specific part of town."

Haden also said the department is in the process of sergeant promotions. The candidates for these promotions have taken sergeant exams and have been through the first round of interviews. Haden said the department is requiring candidates to have a minimum score in their exams and participate in interviews for eligibility.

"We will decide which officers will be promoted," Haden said.

After the selections are made, the sergeants will be assigned to their respective city sections.

The next step in establishing geographic policing is deciding the number of officers who will be staffed for certain sections of Columbia. One thing Haden said was wrong with the department's past system is it had too many beats and not enough officers to staff those beats.

Haden said she sometimes heard officers on the radio going back and forth around the city.

"We had a lot of officers looking like ping pong balls during the day," Haden said. "Why have 16 beats when you don't have 16 officers to cover those beats?"

Haden said geographic policing will reduce the pinball factor and the promotions and area assignments are the next step in that direction.

Officers promoted include Sgt. Krista Shouse-Jones, effective immediately and Sgt. Ken Gregory and Sgt. Brian Richenberger have been promoted and will be effective Oct. 1, the news release stated.

"It's a very exciting time at the department, with the many organizational changes, and I feel privileged to be a part of it," Jones said in the news release.

The promotional ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. Oct. 2 at the Columbia Police Department at 600 E. Walnut St.