By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Major changes are coming to the Decatur Police Department, with two new officers and a newly-named sergeant.
A pair of 21-year-old Adams Central graduates, Luke Roby and Joseph Collier, are joining the department as patrolmen, while veteran officer Trent Busse has been elevated to the rank of sergeant.
With Busse’s promotion, that means a new school resource officer (RSO) will be needed at North Adams Schools.
Police Chief Kevin Gerber brought to the board of works and safety at its Tuesday night meeting his recommendation that Collier and Roby be named to the department. The board approved.
Both men have successfully completed the requirements of the state Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERF) and will be sworn in later this month.
They will have to attend the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield and pass the intense training there.
Gerber sounded a bit of an ominous note when he told the board that other “agencies were wanting them, so I moved as fast as we can.”
Roby, a 2021 graduate of Adams Central, is a native of Adams County, the son of Josh and Kelly Roby. He has been employed in the sheriff’s office jail division for the past three years.
Collier also is a 2021 AC grad, gaining an honors diploma, and he later earned an Associates Degree in Organizational Leadership from Purdue Fort Wayne last December.
He, too, has been employed in the sheriff’s office jail division, for over the past year.
The son of Randall and Julie Collier has three siblings and is engaged to wed Sage Hamnond in October.
BUSSE BOOSTED: Busse was chosen for the promotion over two other candidates and the board concurred with Gerber’s choise.
“I think he will make an excellent sergeant,” Gerber said to the board.
“He’s been quite an influence at the school,” board member Craig Coshow noted.
Busse marked 10 years with the department in 2013 and has spent seven calendar years at Bellmont, according to Gerber, who has been a BHS school officer in the past.
Busse and his wife, the former Dana Kaczmarek, are the parents of three children.
Koda, the police dog who has spent the current school year with Busse at Bellmont, will remain with the school and whomever is chosen to replace Busse there.
“He’s gonna stay; those kids love him and he’s trained for that,” Busse said after the meeting.
Two of the department changes were necessitated by the announced resignation of Sgt. Mark Cook. He will be leaving in July, with Busse taking the sergeant post at that time.
The department has had an opening for some time, and the resignation of Cook – who has accepted a position in the Northeast Indiana Liaison Office for grant writers through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute – made it two.
