Cape police sergeant promoted to lieutenant

Four Cape Girardeau police officers received promotions Tuesday.

Joey Hann, who has served with the department for 15 years, was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant.

Cpls. Jacob Scheper and Darrin Sides rose to the ranks of sergeant, and officer Jacob Marberry was promoted to corporal.

Hann will fill a newly-created lieutenant's position. According to Chief of Police Wes Blair, Cape Girardeau Police Department added an additional lieutenant so the department can have both day and night coverage in the patrol division.

"Joey is an outstanding addition to our team," Blair said. "He's well respected by his peers and the community. His promotion to lieutenant will be a huge benefit for our patrol division."

Hann currently trains officers and serves as the department's public information officer (PIO).

A new PIO, Cpl. Ryan Droege, will begin his new role Feb. 10, according to Hann.

In Hann's new role as lieutenant of patrol, he will be one of two patrol commanders who are responsible for monitoring the daily operations of Cape Girardeau Police Department's patrol division.

He and Lt. Jeff Bonham intend to balance their roles between administrative duties and responding to calls and major incident scenes, according to Hann.

"I believe we both share the opinion that the best way that we can support our officers is by regularly doing the same work they do, and the best way for us to assess the needs of our community is to see it for ourselves on a first-hand basis," Hann said.

His promotion will take effect Saturday. A promotional ceremony was held Tuesday night.

"The Cape Girardeau Police Department is staffed with an extremely impressive roster of officers who willfully perform a very difficult job because they believe in what they do," Hann said. "I'm honored to be able to support these great officers in their work and I am honored to be able to serve our city alongside them."