Staffing at Port Arthur Police Department will get soon a boost with the promotion of one lieutenant and three police sergeants.

Port Arthur City Council recently approved an ordinance to increase the authorized number of sworn officers by adding the new positions. A promotion ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Jan. 5 in council chambers at city hall.

The promotions include Jeremy Houston, moving from sergeant to lieutenant, and officers Matthew Bulls, Tyre Thomas and Shannon Meaux moving to the sergeant ranks.

Since the department was in a deficit of officers the promotions will not have an adverse effect on the city’s budget, Port Arthur Police Chief Patrick Melvin said.

Melvin has signed 10 conditional offers of employment with already certified officers and if these officers pass all of the required screenings and requirements, the department will only be down by three.

Other changes are coming to the department with the promotions. The lieutenant will be assigned over several specialized units, which include narcotics, street crimes and community response.

The street crimes unit was disbanded previously and many of those officers were moved to the community response unit, a group of officers who are the face of the department that meet and interact with the public. The CRU will remain in place and the SCU will be reinstated.

Some of the department’s officers have received specialized training in response to violent acts in some of the city’s apartment complexes. Two children, ages three and four, were hit by gunfire in the legs while in an upstairs apartment at Joe Louis Apartments in October.

“We have sent several officers to crime free multi-housing training recently,” he said. “We want to be able too handle the crime occurring in the community.”

The chief said there have been recent incidents at both Louis Manor and Avery Trace apartment complexes and that he, along with several officers and a representative of the apartment complex met. The hope is to make those residents feel secure as the officers get the best of training so they can effectively deal with the situations.

A task force was formed after the children’s shooting and officers have had residents inform them of concerns which likely thwarted a possible crime this week, he said.

In addition, one of the newly promoted sergeants will be assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force thus allowing the city the ability to tap into federal resources. A number of other local police departments have at least one office assigned to the joint terrorism task force including the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Melvin also plans to reinstate the department’s traffic enforcement unit.

“We are excited about that possibility and deterring some of the crashes,” he said, adding that the department has received some complaints regarding traffic issues.