A few fellow officers, family members and friends were among a group of about thirty people that attended a special ceremony at Belleville City Hall on Wednesday.
 
They were in Council Chambers to congratulate a group of six officers who are now starting the next chapter of their policing career as Sergeants with the Belleville Police Service.
 
Among those in attendance was Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk, who spoke at Wednesday's event.
 
"We are so proud that you work on our behalf.  There is a grateful community out there."
 
Police Board Vice-Chair Brad Althouse also thanked the new sergeants on behalf of the board for the work they do.
 
Belleville Police Chief Ron Gignac was the first to speak to the crowd and said a number of things made these particular officers -- Sgt. Jeremy Ashley, Sgt. Martin Charbonneau, Sgt. Shawn Code, Sgt. Darryl Erwin, Sgt. Kyle King and Sgt. Brad Stitt -- stand out for promotion.
 
"It's their commitment, dedication and loyalty to public safety and to the city of Belleville...loyalty, tradition, progress."
 
Gignac also emphasized the characteristic of leadership, that each of the officers honoured were 'leaders of action'.
 
Deputy Chief Mike Callaghan mentioned that the group is actually part of a new supervisory model at the service -- one that will reflect a distribution of leadership, which Gignac commented on.

"In today's day and age with judicial authorization, with laws coming down fast and furious, with all of these demands and oversights being placed upon our profession, it's only prudent to have leadership where the horsepower is needed the most." that is when we're dealing with people on the front line."
 
Gignac continued, "That's when we're dealing with people on the front line, when we're being called to 9-1-1 calls, when we're being called to a problem that a family has, that a person has. A mental heath situation, a domestic violence dispute, somebody who is in dire need of assistance.  That's the type of calls we're going to.  We need the leadership at that juncture in time, so that's what we've set out to do."
 
The Chief Of Police added that this method will be ideal as more people from across the Quinte region come to Belleville Police Service for help with those matters, with the city police serving as a regional cachement area.
 
When asked about how officers become sergeants, Gignac answered that it is not just when police have a vacancy and they hire right away -- it's actually a year-long 'competition' candidates who apply must go through.
 
"First of all, you have to pass a provincial exam.  Then you have to put a notice of intention to compete in the promotional.  We have a series of steps that one must go through and it's an interview process, then it's an assessment phase, then they're doing the presentation.  There's written submissions that are evaulated and graded by Human Resources officials.  Next to that, there's another interview process, so once they make all of those steps -- if they make all of those steps -- then it's a final interview in front of a senior leadership board at the Belleville Police Service."
 
When he spoke to the crowd in Council Chambers, Deputy Chief Callaghan talked about the promotion of the officers as part of the goal of Belleville becoming the safest community in Ontario -- that it is a lofty goal and 'we mean it'.
 
He added that with this group of six becoming sergeants, the future of the police service is 'very, very bright here'.