GPD adds three officers, makes promotions

By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE

GLASGOW — The rank is going up and the file is increasing at the Glasgow Police Department.

July 1 marked the recognition of several personnel changes for the local law enforcement agency.

A ceremony was conducted at 9 a.m. Wednesday in council chambers at city hall to announce the promotions of Capt. James Duff and Capt. Kent Keen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Duff will be in charge of the patrol division, the detective or investigative division, the radio communications division and the tactical division, which includes the Critical Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.)

Keen will be in charge of the support services section, which includes training, professional standards, events, maintenance, and special services such as the school resource officer (S.R.O.) and school programs.

Both commanding officers are looking forward to the challenges of their existing and new responsibilities.

“We’ve had a busy few months since Chief (Horace) Johnson came,” Duff said. “I’m proud to be lieutenant colonel for Chief Johnson and the Glasgow Police Department. It’s been a team effort since we started this. Chief Johnson’s been a great go-to person. He’s led us in the right direction. Hope-fully we can lead the Glasgow Police Department into a good future.”

“It’s definitely a challenge because it’s a lot of new information for me to learn,” Keen said. “A lot of things I wasn’t privy to as a patrol officer - a patrol captain. It’s kind of a new perspective on the way the department is run. In other words, all the paperwork issues, all the administrative issues, all the guidelines and regulations that have to be met in order for everything to flow.”

Johnson said it was a deliberate decision to skip the rank of major when promoting the commanding officers.

“To be quite honest with you, the rank of major was cast around in not such a good light and I wanted to put that rank behind us and any names that were associated with us. I think the higher rank is more appropriate to working directly with the chief of police. That way if they meet other departments, they’re on a level playing field,” Johnson said.

Officers Brad Lewis, Wes Medley and Chris Wyatt were promoted to the rank of sergeant and Detective Eddie Lindsey was promoted to sergeant in the Detective Division effective July 1 as well.

Wyatt returned to the department on March 30 from the Barren-Edmonson Drug Task Force because of a manpower shortage with the department.

Along with his promotion, Lewis has taken on the duties as K-9 officer for city police as well, following the departure of Officer Mike Houchens. Officer Eric Guffey has also left the GPD for alternative employment.

“(Lewis has) been working with the dog a couple of weeks, just acclimating to the dog’s living facilities and pens,” Keen said. “He even has the dog with him in the vehicle. He has the K-9 car.”

The department also welcomed three new officers who were sworn in on June 16. Adam Bow, Justin Kirkpatrick and Ashley Towe will leave Sunday for Richmond to begin a 18-week training program at the Kentucky State Police Academy starting Monday. Following their Nov. 13 graduation, they will return to the department for a final eight-week Patrol Training Officer program.

The three new recruits are part of Johnson’s initiative to increase diversity to the department, adding an additional female and African-American to the force’s ranks.

“We need more women in this department and more diversity. First of all, we’re going to look for character and then secondly we’re going to look for the best qualified person,” he said.

“We just chose the best out of the applicants we had,” Keen said. “Obviously, there’s sifting of all the applicants whether it be through the physical, through the written test, through the interview process, whatever it may be and it came down to a final pool and out of that final pool we chose these ones and reinterviewed them and these just happened to be the top three. It worked out really well. We just tried to get the best three employees — applicants — that we could find.”

After a decision was made Wednesday, two additional officers were hired as well, according to Keen. Two openings in the police academy’s August class had been reserved by the department and cadets Jarrod Steele and Jacob Elmore will be taking those spots. They will complete academy training in January.

The possibility of one other additional officer is being discussed as well.

A new DARE officer has not yet been named, according to Keen, following the departure of Officer Ken Thomas on June 14 to the sheriff’s office to replace retiring DARE officer, Deputy Dan Blair.