It was standing room only for a special ceremony Monday to recognize promotions within the Lexington police department. A long-time local religious leader offered some sentiments as the guest speaker.
Reverend Willis Polk says Lexington's police department features a 'good foundation' and 'good work performance standards.' Still, the Baptist preacher stressed the importance of having a heart, mind, and spirit for police work, and to do it with fairness and honesty.
One of the honorees was Todd Johnson, promoted to sergeant. He says policing is tied to community acceptance. Without it, Johnson says tactics have to change. "We can't let our safety or the safety of the public go down in that, but we're obviously gonna have to look at the way we do things," said Johnson.
Johnson says he's been involved with police training for about half his career.
After the event, Reverend Polk said Lexington's police department might be valuable as a 'think tank' on issues like those faced in Missouri and New York. "Lexington's climate is as such that cooler heads can prevail at this point, in terms of just sitting down, working through issues that others are going through," said Polk. "Even if Lexington comes up with something that they cannot use immediately, it can be transported other places."
The ceremony was held on the Blue Grass Community and Technical College campus. Police Chief Mark Barnard says his officers have undergone training at the Newtown Pike center for less than a year. "We wanted a presence in the Georgetown Street corridor, cause we know this area's developing. We already have sector houses in all the other parts of the city. We wanted to come on this campus, not as a sector house, but part of our training to blend education with training," said Barnard.
In all, 16 officers were honored with promotions.?
