St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch, only a couple of weeks into his position, last week formally introduced recently promoted Police Department division leaders.

Maj. Terry Roberds and Capts. Kenneth Gregory and Kenneth Cox recently were promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel; Bill Howe, director of the Bureau of Staff Services in the Division of Operational Support, was promoted to executive director of the Division of Operational Support; and Lts. Mary Barton, Troy Doyle and Jeff Bader were promoted to the rank of captain.

The commanding officers’ new assignments, which they took over Sunday, are as follows: Roberds is now the commanding officer in the Division of Criminal Investigation; Gregory is the commanding officer in the Division of Special Operations; Cox is the commanding officer in the Division of Patrol; Doyle is the commander of the north county precinct; Barton is the commander in the bureau of staff services; and Bader is the commander of the Fenton precinct.

Fitch said the appointees will help fulfill his promise to put more officers on the streets of St. Louis County.

“All of these promotions share the same vision I have and the police board has for the county police department, and that is to return as many officers to the street,” he said. “We want to reduce the response time of officers responding to calls for service, and we want to have more visibility in our neighborhood, and they’re going to help us accomplish that.”

Gregory and Barton made St. Louis County Police Department history with their promotions, Fitch said. Gregory is the first black person to attain the rank of lieutenant colonel in the department’s history, while Barton is the first woman to reach the rank of captain.

Roberds is likely a familiar face to south county residents. He has served as captain, lieutenant, sergeant in tactical operations and a patrolman in the south county precinct.

The lieutenant colonel is looking forward to a “change of pace” in his new position, he said.

“I’ve been in uniform the last 16 years and my goal is to continue to provide the support we need to our police officers out on the street,” Roberds told the Call. “We’ve got an outstanding group of investigators in our detective bureau — I feel probably the best in the state.”