6 Police Get New Staff Sergeant Rank

6 Police Get New Staff Sergeant Rank

Ann Arbor Police Chief Walter E. Krasny has announced the promotion of six officers to the newly-created rank of staff sergeant.

The chief said his department has long been in need of command rank immediately below that of lieutenant in order that every working shift would have an executive officer on duty at headquarters around the clock.

“Staff sergeants will work immediately under duty lieutenants and will command a working shift in the absence of the lieutenant,” Chief Krasny said.

He said in creating the new rank his department is following the lead of Michigan State Police which instituted the staff sergeant rank several years ago. One of the first State Police sergeants to be promoted to the “staff” rank was Carl Freeborn, commander of the Ypsilanti post.

Chief Krasny said promotion of the five sergeants fills the command vacancies in his department. He said of the six new staff sergeants three will serve with working platoons of patrolmen and three will be assigned to specialized duty. The latter three are Staff Sgts. Richard G. Hill, 44, Eddie Owens, 48, and Calvin Hicks, 41.

Sgt. Hill, a 17-year veteran of city police service, has been Ann Arbor’s Civil Defense director for the past two years. An Ypsilanti native, Hill is a World War II veteran who served as a patrolman for nine years before his promotion to detective sergeant in 1962. As an investigator, Sgt. Hill specialized in embezzlement probes and was cited several times for his work in that area. He transferred to the Uniformed Division four years ago and later was assigned to the Research and Planning Division of the department.

Chief Krasny said Sgt. Hill will continue as Civil Defense director for the city but will carry the staff sergeant rank.

Sgt. Owens, who has also been a city policeman for the past 17 years, is a Jackson native who served in World War II as an army sergeant. Much of his police career has been as a Youth Division officer and he has headed that section for the past two years. He will continue in that post, but in the absence of his lieutenant will be one of two ranking officers in the Detective Division. That unit is headed by a captain. Sgt. Owens has been cited frequently for his rehabilitation work with youngsters.

Sgt. Hicks, an Ohio native, is an army veteran who has been a policeman for 14 years. He served as a patrol officer and command corporal before promotion to detective seven years ago. He is the department’s top vice investigator and Chief Krasny said he will continue as a vice detective. Hicks will also have supervisory rank in the Detective Division, the chief said.

The three Uniformed Division staff sergeants are Dale T. Heath, 34, Marvin E. Konkle, 42, and Duane G. Weber, 37.

Sgt. Heath, a Milan native, has been a city officer for 13 years, serving as a beat patrolman before promotion to corporal seven years ago. He was cited for bravery in 1962 when he and another officer kicked in the door of a downtown apartment where a fire had started I and rescued the occupant. Heath has served in the Detective Division and was promoted to sergeant in 1966. He is a former president of the Law Enforcement and Industrial Association of Washtenaw County.

Sgt. Konkle, born in Pontiac, is an army veteran who has been an Ann Arbor policeman for 14 years. He was a patrol officer prior to promotion to corporal in 1966. He was moved up to sergeant two years ago. Konkle was cited by the City Council 10 years ago for his efforts to save a 12-year-old boy who drowned in the Huron Riv-ter. He was also cited for his 1964 capture of an armed bandit. The apprehension occurred three minutes after the robbery.

Sgt. Weber, reared in Ypsilanti, is an army artillery unit veteran who has been a city policeman for 15 years. He served as a street patrolman for eight years before promotion to corporal and was moved up to sergeant in 1965. He has been second in command of a platoon of patrolmen since that time.

Chief Krasny said Staff Sgts. Heath, Konkle and Weber will command uniformed platoons in the absence of the lieutenant who normally heads their units.