Two women set to take top staff positions within Columbus police department

Columbus Police Chief Freddie Blackmon has named his new command staff and set a promotion ceremony for Dec. 30.

Blackmon, confirmed by Columbus Council last month to be the city’s chief following Chief Ricky Boren’s retirement Oct. 30, is promoting two assistant chiefs and four deputy chiefs in a rearrangement of the department’s top ranks.

Here are those to be promoted in a series of ceremonies next week in the North Exhibit Hall of the Columbus Convention and Trade Center.

At 10 a.m., the promotions will be:

• Capt. Joyce Dent-Fitzpatrick to assistant police chief.
• Capt. Debra Kennedy also to assistant police chief.

At noon, the promotions will be:

• Capt. Roderick Graham to deputy chief.
• Capt. Ronald Hastings to deputy chief.
• Lt. Lance Deaton to deputy chief.
• Lt. Roderick Graham to deputy chief.
• Sgt. Katina Williams to chief of staff.

At 2 p.m., the promotions will be:

• Lt. Consuelo Askew to captain.
• Lt. David Blackstock to captain.
• Lt. Kevin Hamer to captain.
• Lt. Gregory Touchberry to captain.

The police department has 488 sworn officers, 107 civilian workers and an annual budget of $40.2 million.

The promotions were listed on a police department memo circulated Monday and posted to a private Facebook page. The chief’s office confirmed the memo’s authenticity Tuesday.

Blackmon was not immediately available for comment.

This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 2:31 PM.

Tim Chitwood

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

706-571-8508

Tim Chitwood is from Seale, Alabama, and started as a police beat reporter with the Ledger-Enquirer in 1982. He since has covered Columbus’ serial killings and other homicides, following some from the scene of the crime to trial verdicts and ensuing appeals. He also has been a Ledger-Enquirer humor columnist since 1987. He’s a graduate of Auburn University, and started out working for the weekly Phenix Citizen in Phenix City, Ala.