Eight Decatur police officers given promotions

Eight Decatur police officers with a combined 72 years service within the department were recently given promotions. Chief Mike Booker said it was only the third time in his nine years that he’d done a mass promotion of this type.

Three were promoted from sergeant to lieutenant: Jennifer Ross, Eric Jackson and Billy Woodruff. Five others were promoted from officer or investigator to sergeant: Dan Bellis, John Bender, Amy Hall, Phillip Nembheard and Kim Parks.

The officers were evaluated by an outside company, and promotions were determined by a written test and by a video interview where officers responded to hypothetical scenarios, Booker said.