Salem police officers receive promotions
Karl Toy, left, is administered his new oath of office as the Salem Police Department’s new Administrative Sergeant by Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, right. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)
Robert Keister, left, is administered his new oath of office as the Salem Police Department’s newest Sergeant by Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, right. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)
Karl Toy, left, is administered his new oath of office as the Salem Police Department’s new Administrative Sergeant by Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, right. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)
Robert Keister, left, is administered his new oath of office as the Salem Police Department’s newest Sergeant by Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, right. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)
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SALEM -- Two members of the police department received promotions Wednesday.
A ceremony Wednesday saw Sgt. Karl Toy promoted to administrative sergeant and Patrolman Robert Keister promoted to sergeant. With Lt. Dave Casto set to retire after 35 years with the department on Sept. 1, Toy will be taking over his administrative duties, which he will be assuming sooner rather than later as Casto takes vacation for the remainder of August.
Toy has been a member of the Salem Police Department for nearly 26 years and has been serving in a supervisory role since 2009. He explained that his new position would see him shift from a more direct command role overseeing an individual shift to a greater focus on administrative duties for both the day and night shifts including overseeing the evidence room, trainings, staffing concerns such as dispatch and crossing guard scheduling, and assisting Police Chief J.T. Panezott as needed.
Toy said that he felt the role of administrative sergeant was a natural progression of his career with the department and that he was excited and privileged to continue advancing within the department and be able to help more.
"When you start to get toward the end of your career you want to try to contribute and make things better than you found them. I think when you leave if you don't make that contribution and improve things you can kind of be forgotten, and the higher up you move in the department the more impact you can have," said Toy.
Keister is also a veteran of the department, joining as an auxiliary officer in 2005, before becoming a full-time officer in 2007, and will be taking up Toy's former duties as day-shift command. Keister said that he was excited to step into his new role, which he said will come with new administrative responsibilities as a command position. However, he also said that he doesn't expect very much to change on a day-to-day basis.
"I'll still be working with the same guys, so it should be the same for the most part," joked Keister.