Sheriff Kyle P. Dukes Thursday announced promotions at the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office.
Rick Shepherd is the new Tippecanoe Valley school resource officer. He began his career with the KCSO in 2002.
Shepherd has performed the duties of jail officer, patrol deputy, patrol supervisor and communications director. He is a crash reconstructionist with the Kosciusko County Fatal Team. Shepherd was a firefighter with the Winona Lake Fire Department.
Deputy Tom Waikel has been named a detective. He became an officer with the Milford Police Department in 2001. Waikel joined the Syracuse Police Department in 2005 and the KCSO in 2012.
Waikel is a member of SWAT and the previous coordinator of the field training officer program.
Also named a detective is deputy Neil Likens. He began his career with the Syracuse Police Department in 2011, before joining the KCSO in 2014. Likens was a field training officer, responsible for several probationary deputies.
Likens has served on the North Webster Fire Department as a firefighter/EMT.
Another deputy named as a detective is James Marshall.
A combat veteran of the U.S. Army, Marshall was hired by the Milford Police Department in 2002. He became a KCSO deputy in 2007. Marshall is currently a SWAT leader and firearms instructor.
The public information officer is deputy Chris Francis.
Francis was hired as a Kosciusko County Work Release officer in 2004 and transferred to the Kosciusko County Jail in 2005. He was promoted to merit deputy in 2007 and served on the dive team for several years.
Francis is a firefighter/EMT with the North Webster Fire Department.
