Two longtime members of the Bristol Tennessee Police Department have moved up the ranks from lieutenant to captain.
Brian Hess and Dannielle Eller fill the final two vacancies in the senior command staff that Chief Matt Austin has been building since he was appointed to the department's leadership role in July.
Hess has been named captain of support services, and Eller will serve as captain of the criminal investigation division. The positions became vacant when Walter Brown was named major of administration following the retirement of Tim Eads and Terry L. Johnson was promoted to major of operations, filling Austin's former role.
Austin said the department's promotional process is "extremely competitive," adding that the two new captains performed well on both written exams and oral interviews and have the diverse experience needed to be successful in their new roles.
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Hess joined the BTPD in 2002 after a six-year career with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office. He has served as a K-9 officer, detective, field training officer, firearms instructor and a Smith & Wesson armorer. In 2007, he completed a stint as a K-9 handler for the U.S. Special Operations Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to a news release.
Hess has also completed a long list of active shooter and explosive training and has served as a member of the SWAT Team and Bomb Squad. He is a certified Civilian Response to an Active Shooter Event (CRASE) instructor, and a certified ALICE Active Shooter instructor, the release states.
Eller also joined the department in 2005. She started out as a patrol officer and was assigned to the criminal investigations division in 2011. She has served as the lead investigator of both child abuse and elder abuse cases and is a certified Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) instructor.