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The Evening Sun | Norwich Police Promote Officers As Drug Task Force Forms
NORWICH
—
During
Tuesday’s
common
council
meeting,
three
City
of
Norwich
Police
Department
Officers
received
promotions.
Officer
Daniel
Church
has
served
with
the
Norwich
Police
Department
(NPD)
since
2018.
Before
that,
he
served
in
Iraq
with
the
United
States
Marine
Corps,
and
in
Afghanistan
with
the
US
Army.
He
currently
serves
as
a
member
of
the
United
States
Army
Reserves.
On
Tuesday,
Church
was
promoted
to
sergeant.
“I,
Daniel
Church,
do
solemnly
swear
that
I
will
support
the
Constitution
of
the
United
States,
the
Constitution
and
laws
of
the
State
of
New
York,
and
of
the
City
of
Norwich,”
said
Church.
“I
will
bear
true
faith
and
allegiance
to
the
same,
and
defend
them
against
enemies
foreign
and
domestic,
and
that
I
will
faithfully
and
impartially
discharge
the
duties
of
sergeant
to
the
best
of
my
ability,
so
help
me
God.”
Also
at
Tuesday’s
meeting,
Officer
Tristan
Rifanburg
was
promoted
to
the
rank
of
Sergeant,
and
Sergeant
Paul
Slack
was
promoted
to
the
rank
of
first
sergeant.
NPD
Chief
Reuben
Roach
said
the
department
has
had
a
first
sergeant
position
in
the
past,
and
bringing
it
back
allows
more
officers
to
be
out
on
the
street.
“With
this
position,
we
can
have
a
supervisor
on
the
desk
from
8
[a.m.
to]
4:30
[p.m.],
Monday
through
Friday,
and
in
turn
this
puts
police
officers
on
the
street,”
said
Roach.
The
NPD
has
gone
through
some
changes
since
Roach’s
appointment
as
chief
in
February
of
this
year.
Several
officers
have
been
promoted,
and
a
new
detective
position
was
recently
created.
Roach
said
providing
opportunities
for
career
growth
is
important
to
retaining
qualified
staff
within
the
department.
“Policing
in
America
has
changed,
and
less
people
are
taking
the
civil
service
test
to
become
law
enforcement
officers
every
year.
For
instance,
when
I
took
the
exam
in
2002,
there
was
approximately
one-hundred
people
who
took
the
exam
with
me
and
we
competed
for
four
positions.
As
of
last
year,
we
had
a
total
of
seventeen
people
take
our
test,”
he
explained.
“Career
growth
is
important
in
any
police
department,
and
keeping
qualified
employees
is
essential.
We
compete
with
other
agencies
in
our
surrounding
areas,
who
offer
significant
sign-on
bonuses
and
oftentimes
higher
salaries
for
lateral
transfers.”
The
NPD
currently
has
two
detectives,
and
a
third
will
be
brought
on
to
work
on
the
forming
Drug
Task
Force,
which
aims
to
address
the
drug
use
and
overdose
rate
in
the
city.
“Mayor
[Brian]
Doliver
and
I
are
working
closely
to
form
a
Drug
Task
Force
to
stem
the
overdose
rate
and
the
trafficking
of
deadly
narcotics.
We
envision
a
task
force
with
advocates,
mental
health
workers,
detectives,
and
community
stakeholders
who
will
help
to
not
only
deter
the
drug
problems
that
we
have
here,
but
to
offer
ways
out
of
that
world
for
those
who
have
addiction
issues,”
said
Roach.
“This
additional
detective
will
allow
us
to
dedicate
an
investigator
to
this
task
force
in
a
full-time
capacity,
and
not
be
bogged
down
with
other
felonious
crimes
that
the
other
detectives
are
working
on,”
he
added.
Roach
has
also
focused
on
creating
a
more
visible
and
community-focused
police
force
by
increasing
downtown
Norwich
patrols
and
working
to
provide
more
training
opportunities
to
officers.
“We
have
started
more
foot/bike
patrols
in
the
downtown
district
and
my
goal
is
to
build
a
community-oriented
police
department.
Additionally,
my
goal
is
to
have
an
officer
at
training
every
week,
and
to
bring
as
much
knowledge
back
to
our
department,
and
city,
as
possible,”
said
Roach.
“Moving
forward,
we
are
going
to
continue
to
serve
this
community,
build
bridges
and
trust
where
its
needed,
and
to
deter
crime
as
much
as
possible.
Partnering
with
outside
resources
will
be
the
key
to
implementing
these
goals.”
