From patrol officer to sergeant

Thanks to the reorganization to the command structure of the Osceola Police Department, three patrol officers received promotions to the rank of sergeant during a pinning ceremony at last Tuesday’s Osceola City Council meeting – Cody Smith to detective sergeant, Garry Potter and Tyson Rumley to patrol sergeants.

Promotions

Osceola City Administrator Ty Wheeler began by reminding the council of the new organization command structure for the police department that had been approved at the May 6 meeting. The reorganization allowed for upward job progression within the department and opened three sergeant roles – two patrol sergeants who would be overnight front-line supervision and one detective sergeant. Of six in-house officers, four were interviewed and three were chosen for the promotions.

Osceola Mayor Thomas Kedley commended Wheeler and city staff for working on the structure changes.

“... coming up with a continuity of government for our Osceola Police Department, making it a triangle so we have movement within the organization so we keep our fine officers here,” Kedley said. “This community backs the blue.”

After motioning to accept the resolution to approve the three promotions, Councilman Dr. George Fotiadis made a comment on the reorganization of the police structure.

“I have heard of some cities that don’t take care of the police department as well… then they wonder why turnover’s high and officers are unhappy,” Fotiadis said.

With the passage by council for the promotions, Osceola Police Chief Marty Duffus spoke briefly to thank the mayor and council, and talked about the importance of tradition for these pining promotion ceremonies.

“In the police family, these days are some of the most important to the officers, their families, the city and the department. And so it’s really a joy for me to be able to do this and get to watch this. We don’t get to see all this very often,” Duffus said.

The three officers came up individually with their families to recite an oath of office read by Kedley.

“I [name] do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and that I will faithfully and impartially, to the best of my ability, discharge all the duties of the office of [sergeant] in Osceola, Iowa, as now or hereafter required by law.”

As the families pinned their loved ones, Duffus read out that they each had reaffirmed their oath of office and solidified their promotions in rank as of July 15, 2025. Smith started with the city March 22, 2011; Potter Sept. 16, 2013 and Rumley Feb. 27, 2015.

“Thank you very much for all of your service. I hear nothing but good things,” Kedley said.

“Thank you all for supporting the [promotion] of the guys. It’s pretty important to them. It’s something to get work for,” Duffus said.

Structure change

The modification to the command structure was made at the May 6 council meeting. At that time, Wheeler explained that the structure was “relatively horizontal,” with a chief followed by one or two second in command positions and patrol officers. The problem with the structure came in that there was no room for growth or advancement for most of the patrol officers, which led to many over the years leaving in search of career advancement elsewhere. A proposed reorganization of the structure would look more vertical and open up three sergeant positions in between captain and patrol officers - one detective sergeant and two patrol sergeants; the total number of officers in the police department would remain the same at 10.

At that meeting, Duffus explained that over his 20+ years as chief, he had looked at different variants of the structure to see what worked and what didn’t.

“One of the things we struggle with in our department, being a small department is, there is no place to go if you’re a patrol officer,” Duffus said. He added he had never really had an opportunity to train anyone up to a leadership position, which was something he would like to be able to do.

With a detective sergeant, that person would be able to focus more on investigations without being called away to tend to another matter. Duffus noted that while he and Captain Curt Jacobsen are always reachable by phone for their officers, the overnight Patrol sergeants would stay on the police schedule and be the front line of leadership for overnight officers who need them.

“This should get you a succession chain – an excellent supervisory chain – and this should last you for [a long time],” Duffus said.

The change was approved 5-0.

In addition to Duffus, Jacobsen, Smith, Rumley and Potter, the Osceola Police Department consists of A.J. Pettry, Andy Walker, Garrett Green, Michael Rhoads, Earnest Pettit and Zachary Kalvig.