http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-sergeants3sep02,0,1300632.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
September 2, 2005
Officer Kristopher K. Shockley replaced his silver badge with his father's gold one yesterday as he launched a new phase of his career at the Greenwich Police Department, along with two other officers promoted to sergeant at a ceremony at Town Hall.
"He's particularly made his father very, very proud," said Richard Shockley, Kristopher's father and a retired town police officer.
Family, fellow officers and friends filled the Town Hall meeting room yesterday afternoon to see Shockley and officers David Nemecek, who also is a lawyer, and Brent Reeves, who has worked in the department's field training program, sworn in as sergeants, the first rung on the department's supervisory ladder.
"It's the hardest rank to get to because you're testing against the largest number of candidates," Capt. David Ridberg said. "You go from the officer's job of not only doing to also watching. It's a big transition."
The promotions are the product of a deal struck between the police union and town officials in March, preserving six of eight officer positions that faced elimination when the uniformed officers assigned to the emergency dispatch system were replaced by civilians.
Those six uniformed positions have been split between three neighborhood resource officers and the three sergeants.
Shockley, 31, joined the department in 1997 and said the new job is a continuation of his experience teaching younger officers as a field training officer in the patrol division.
The three junior sergeants will start out working the desk, helping to supervise dispatchers, arranging work shifts, and fielding calls and visits from the public, Shockley said.
"Being able to help people is the greatest reward in itself," Shockley said.
During his career, Shockley has been a member of the department's Special Response Unit -- the department SWAT team -- since 2000.
Nemecek, 37, joined the department in 1990, and has been a member of the Police Dive Team and worked in the department's marine section since 2004.
"This is a change of pace and more responsibility and a little more decision making," Nemecek said of the new post. "As a patrolman, you defer your decisions to the supervisor, and this is nice at this stage of my career."
In 1999 Nemecek, an Orange resident, graduated from Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden while working as a policeman.
"I wanted to go back to get some kind of higher degree and I was fascinated by case law that I was seeing in my job," Nemecek said.
Reeves, 35, as well as Shockley, are both qualified to work the "accident car" post, a specially trained officer who responds to the scene of accidents and helps preserve evidence for investigation.
Reeves joined the police force the same day as Shockley in 1997, and also worked as a field training officer, where veteran police officers patrol alongside probationary officers for 12 weeks, teaching them to apply what they learned in the police academy.
"The field training program is really one of the greatest things I've done in my life," Reeves said. "You graduate from the academy with raw knowledge, but you need to know how to apply that to field work."
The promotion brings the department's number of sergeants to 23, according to Chief James Walters.
Under the community policing plan, the additional sergeants will enable the town to assign each part of town to a sergeant to supervise patrol officers by responding to calls in the field, Walters said.
"It's good to have sergeants dedicated to the sectors as much as possible -- additional sergeants on the road to respond and provide guidance and support to officers on the streets," Walters said.
The three neighborhood resource officers will be assigned to working with residents to resolve crime and quality-of-life problems in the three sectors -- north, east and west -- the department uses to the patrol the town.
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