The Powell Police Department welcomed three new leaders last week.

In a trio of promotions, Sgt. Matt McCaslin was formally sworn in as the department’s lieutenant, while officers Matt Brilakis and Dustin DelBiaggio became sergeants.

The three officers reaffirmed their oaths to support and defend the constitutions of the United States and Wyoming and to well and faithfully discharge their duties to the best of their abilities under the law.

As lieutenant, McCaslin will serve as second-in-command at the agency. He’ll lead some training and mentoring and conduct administrative work while also remaining available to fill in on patrol shifts when needed.

In his new role, McCaslin said he wants to help keep the department moving forward through training and other efforts — and to continue enhancing the agency’s relationship with local residents and businesses.

“We are blessed in Powell to have a great community that we serve,” he said, “and I want to see that relationship just continue to flourish in whatever ways that we can, while still maintaining the duties that we have as a law enforcement agency.”

McCaslin, who joined the department in 2004, said he’s also looking forward to working with the two new sergeants.

In their new roles, Brilakis and DelBiaggio will be responsible for overseeing, inspiring and motivating a squad of patrol officers to go out into the community and serve, said Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt. Sergeants work regular patrol shifts alongside their squads and Eckerdt described their jobs as among the most critical and challenging in the department.

“When someone judges our agency, it’s based on those contacts with those patrol officers on the street that they see every day,” Eckerdt said. “It’s the role of those sergeants to train, coach and mentor our patrol officers to ensure their development as future leaders of this agency — and that they’re meeting the needs and expectations of our community.”

Brilakis brings some three-and-a-half decades of law enforcement experience to his new job as sergeant. He served as an officer in Coral Springs, Florida, for 21 years before joining Powell police in 2007.

DelBiaggio, meanwhile, has served the department since late summer 2019. He also came to Powell with law enforcement experience, having worked as a deputy for the Humboldt County, California, Sheriff’s Office for five years.

The new leaders’ families were in attendance at Wednesday’s promotion ceremony at Powell City Hall, with the officers’ wives helping to pin on their new medals.

“Just like when you put on the badge and become a police officer, your families take on a role. The weight of the duties that we fulfill affects our families — so does this leadership role,” Eckerdt told the group.

The Powell Police Department had been without a lieutenant since the retirement of Alan Kent in late 2019 and had been short a sergeant since around that same time, when Officer Chad Miner took an assignment on a joint Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation task force.

More changes are still to come. At the end of January, Paul Sapp opted to leave his position as a sergeant and return to a role as a patrol officer, so the department will soon look to make another promotion. Department leaders are also in the process of hiring a new police officer to fill a vacant position.

Powell Mayor John Wetzel administered the oath of office for newly promoted officers at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Wetzel told the trio that, as a councilman and now as the mayor, he receives lots of phone calls. However, “I get very few if any about our police department,” he said, “and if I do, most of them are complimentary.”

Wetzel told the officers he appreciates what they do.