{"id":18230,"date":"2024-08-07T06:45:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T10:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=18230"},"modified":"2024-08-07T06:45:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T10:45:09","slug":"council-honors-former-officer-mark-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/07\/council-honors-former-officer-mark-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"Council honors former officer Mark Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words didn’t come easily for Mark Cook. With uniformed city police officers sitting behind him, Cook struggled to say, \u201cIt was an honor, a privilege,\u201d referring to his long career serving Decatur in law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark Cook (left) getting key to city from Mayor Dan Rickord<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe support of these guys is twofold,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis city is safe and these guys (other department members) will keep it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook was honored at Tuesday night’s meeting of city council for his 31 years, six months and four days as a member of the local department. It was announced in February that he would be leaving the force to take a job in the private sector. His last day was July 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark Cook signing off for final time in July<\/em>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cook served under five police chiefs and four mayors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a wonderful city, a safe city, and (our police) are a big part of that,\u201d Mayor Dan Rickord said. \u201cMark Cook has dedicated his whole career to keeping our city safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook spent three years as a reserve, then joined the department full-time in January of 1993. He was promoted to sergeant in April of 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councilman Matt Dyer said he remembered a time during the Great Flood of 2003 how early on \u201cno one quite knew what to do, but there was Mark taking charge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a resolution read by City Attorney Anne Razo, it was noted that Cook was a valuable member of the city PD as evidenced by \u201chis many certifications as a DARE officer, ILEA general instructor, specialized trainings to serve as a defensive tactics instructor, field training officer, department training coordinator, OPO grant coordinator, force science analyst, crash reconstruction officer, and off-duty security work coordinator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution also noted that he served Adams County as deputy corner and then coroner; that he was a field officer with the county’s Community Corrections program, conducting home visits and monitoring individuals in the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution also pointed out that Cook \u201cdemonstrated courage and selflessness in his service to our community; was quick to volunteer for additional training opportunities and became a stong leader and educator within the department…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lengthy resolution closed by saying that \u201cMark Cook worked diligently and effectively to protect the safety of his fellow officers and all citizens of Decatur \u2026 the citizens of Decatur are indebted to Mark Cook for his many years of dedicated service as a law enforcement officer, for his willingness to put his life at risk to protect others, and for his desire to maintain respect for citizens, his officers and his department itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also said that the council members \u201cexpress their deepest gratitude to Mark Cook for his leadership, service and his effort to maintain the highest integrity and professionalism within the department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook was accompanied to the meeting by his fiance, Carly Ann Raymond, and some family members. Several police officers attended, including Trent Busse, who has moved into Cook’s sergeant post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark Cook speaking at Tuesday\u2019s city council meeting<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The longtime officer left the department for a position in the Northeast Indiana Liaison Office for grant writers through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com The words didn’t come easily for Mark Cook. With uniformed city police officers sitting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-18230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}