By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Veteran Decatur police officer Trent Busse was sworn in Monday as a sergeant with the department.
Busse replaces another veteran, Mark Cook, who leaves the department Friday.
Joining the PD in 2013, Busse has served as the North Adams Schools Resource Officer (RSO) since 2018, but exited at the end of the school year to assume the sergeant’s post.
Officer Andrew Elwell will assume the post with the start of the 2024-25 school year.
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Busse and his wife, the former Dana Kaczmarek, are the parents of three children.
When Cook steps down Friday, he will have 31 years, six months and four days with the department, according to Police Chief Kevin Gerber.
Cook has accepted a position in the Northeast Indiana Liaison Office for grant writers through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
“This one is bittersweet for me,” Gerber told the city’s board of works and safety when he announced earlier this year that Cook was departing. “Mark has been a great officer and he will leave a great void in our department.”
Cook spent three years as a reserve, then joined the department full-time in January of 1993. In April of 2011, he was promoted to sergeant.