The Mansfield Police Department promoted Sergeant Douglas A. Seman to the rank of Lieutenant of Police on Thursday.
Fellow police officers, family and friends gathered in the Hutchison Classroom of the Mansfield Division Police Department for cake and refreshments to celebrate the honor.
“We are very proud of Doug,” said Mansfield Police Chief Ken Coontz.
Coontz said Seman started his career with the department as a patrolman and eventually worked his way up to watch Sergeant.
“He did some duties for the lieutenant position while he was a sergeant so we knew he was capable and we were very proud of him when we brought him up to the training section,” Coontz said.
The police chief said the department’s training section is quite challenging on the administrative side. He said when he and the assistant chief don’t know what to do with any particular case, they will rely on the lieutenant to work on it.
“’We weren’t sure how that was going to work with Doug,” he said. “I think everybody in the administration was very surprised to see what type of organizational skills that Doug actually possessed.”
After that, Coontz joked that Seman made a mistake.
“As soon as you let the administration know that you’re capable because trust me, we’ll put it on you,” he quipped. “And we did and Doug has succeeded.”
Deputy Police Chief Keith Porch said he has always admired Seman’s dedication to the patrol side of the job as well as the administrative side.
Safety Service Director Lori Cope administered the oath of office to Seman, while his son, John, pinned him.
John Seman, 17, said he and the whole family are really proud of his dad’s promotion. The Hillsdale soon-to-be senior said he knows risks come with his dad being a police officer but he has gotten used to it over the years.
“I know risks come with the job but living with it all my life, you kind of take it for granted,” he said. “We are definitely very, very proud of him.”
Seman’s wife, Jennifer Seman, also noted of how proud she is of her husband.
“He is very deserving,” she said. “He’s got a very good head on his shoulders.”
She said she has learned to be a sounding board for her husband during the stressful times of the job.
In addition to Seman’s wife and son, his in-laws, and two uncles, one who served 29 years with the Cleveland Police Department, were in attendance for the ceremony.
Coontz said Seman will eventually be a lieutenant back in the patrol section.
“But we decided collectively that we were going to have to delay his return back to patrol because we put so many duties on him, so he can’t just up and leave the training section,” he said.
Angel Ross-Taylor is a correspondent for Richland Source hailing from the city of Mansfield. You can follow Angel on Twitter at @angelnichole222.
