LEBANON, Mo. (KY3) – The Lebanon Police Department is bringing back a new position for the first time in 17 years: corporal. This week, the department welcomed four new corporals into its ranks.
“After discussions within the department’s union, Police Chief Jerry Harrison says it was brought back to encourage officers to stay and build up their leadership skills.
“Smaller departments don’t allow opportunity for promotion. So it gives a kind of an intermediate opportunity for promotion,” said Harrison. “It helps us grow our leadership, which is important. From a recruiting perspective, people can see that they have more opportunities to promote. From a retention perspective, they’re going to stay around longer once they’ve been promoted.”
Four corporals got pinned this week by the people closest to them; other detectives and family members were all in the mix. While this new role will benefit the officers, it’ll also help out on the streets, as corporals are the first line between officers and sergeants.
“We can teach them the new roles of community policing and how to interact with everybody, and how to teach everyone to respect everyone, how to make this job go as smoothly as possible,” said Corporal Wesley Perryman, who was promoted this week.
And that’s what newly appointed Corporal Perryman hopes to bring: better connections within the community, and boosting the next generation of officers.
“It gives our recruits an option, you know, later on when one of the corporals moves up or if somebody else moves up into another sergeant’s role or lieutenant role, then at that point, that allows everybody to grow, and it’s competitive,” said Perryman. “I think the corporals will be here for a very long time now.”
“As a police chief, I care about every member of our team; they’re a great bunch of people. Some of the finest people I’ve ever known,” said Harrison. “I’m really excited to see how they grow in their new roles and what leadership benefits that we’re going to experience over time as a team.”
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