By KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
EDISON — It was standing room only as the Edison Police Department promoted five new lieutenants and 10 new sergeants to fill vacancies in the department’s ranks.
Police Chief Thomas Bryan and Deputy Chief Ronald Mieczkowski thanked Mayor Thomas Lankey and the Township Council for their support during a May 19 promotion ceremony.
“These promotions are essential to ensure that our department operates with greater efficiency and that officers, on patrol and in our investigative units, have the most conscientious, professional supervision possible,” said Bryan.
He said with the complexity of law enforcement today, the officers entering into their supervisory roles will be crucial in playing a part in providing the highest quality of protection for the township that has a population of about 100,000 people.
Bryan said the officers being promoted have effectively shown competence and character, the key qualities of a supervisory position.
Promotions to each rank were based on strict new criteria and rigorous examination procedures that Edison Township implemented in 2014. Edison’s 184-officer police force last made promotions in 2013.
“Our newly implemented promotion criteria and testing process ensures that the officers promoted today are well-qualified for their new duties,” said Lankey, who also serves as public safety director. “These promotions are based on the written and oral test scores that measure each officer’s job knowledge and decision-making skills.”
Promoted from sergeant to lieutenant were Robert Dudash Jr., Jason Gerba, Brian Maurath, Keith Stein and Frank Todd.
With these promotions, the department will have 16 lieutenants, including 12 assigned as road supervisors and shift commanders, and four assigned to duties in various investigative units.
Promoted from patrolman to sergeant were Theodore Hamer, Joseph Luistro, Mark Metzing, Brian Mieczkowski, Raymond Powers, William Revill, David Stern, David Tingle, Douglas Turner and Karl Van Bree.
These promotions bring the department’s total number of sergeants to 23 assigned to road patrol and investigative units.