By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
The Decatur Police Department has added a new officer and also is looking ahead to adding another to replace a retiring veteran.
Kobey Eaton, 22, has been a member of the Berne Police Department. He joins Decatur’s force as a “lateral hire” since he graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy last October.
He will, however, undergo field training.
Meanwhile, Chief Kevin Gerber told the Decatur Board of Works and Safety Tuesday night that Deputy Police Chief Chris Brite will be retiring in a few months.
The board gave the chief permission to begin the hiring process to eventually replace Brite. “We want to kinda get the ball rolling so we won’t get caught short-handed,” Gerber said.
He added that six applicants – “very good candidates” – have been interviewed for the soon-to-be opening.
Brite, who has been with the department for almost 32 years, having joined in April of 1994, will be stepping down in June.
He was elevated to his present position in June of 2019.
Eaton, a resident of Decatur who grew up in Adams County and the Decatur area, joined the Berne department last February. Prior to that he was a confinement officer with the Adams County Sheriff’s Department from July 2022 to January of 2025.
He is a 2022 graduate of South Adams High School where he played football for four years, basketball for three years, and was on the wrestling team as a senior.
ONE AND ONE: Chief Gerber’s request to have officer Dallas Creager removed from a standard one year of probation was granted by the board.
Creager joined the department on January 7 of last year.
The native of Bluffton and graduate of Southern Wells High School had been a member of the Geneva Police Department.
Gerber also informed the board that Conrad Dyer has started his training at the police academy in Plainfield and should be finished by the end of April.
The 2021 Bellmont High School grad was hired by the department last September after spending four years as a confinement officer at the local jail.
When Dyer returns the department will be at full strength with 18 officers, plus Brite and Gerber.
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