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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter discussions within the department\u2019s union, Police Chief Jerry Harrison says it was brought back to encourage officers to stay and build up their leadership skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmaller departments don\u2019t allow opportunity for promotion. So it gives a kind of an intermediate opportunity for promotion,\u201d said Harrison. \u201cIt 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\u2019re going to stay around longer once they\u2019ve been promoted.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019ll also help out on the streets, as corporals are the first line between officers and sergeants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d said Corporal Wesley Perryman, who was promoted this week.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what newly appointed Corporal Perryman hopes to bring: better connections within the community, and boosting the next generation of officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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\u2019s role or lieutenant role, then at that point, that allows everybody to grow, and it\u2019s competitive,\u201d said Perryman. \u201cI think the corporals will be here for a very long time now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a police chief, I care about every member of our team; they\u2019re a great bunch of people. Some of the finest people I\u2019ve ever known,\u201d said Harrison. \u201cI\u2019m really excited to see how they grow in their new roles and what leadership benefits that we\u2019re going to experience over time as a team.\u201d <\/p>\n