SOUTHWEST MERCER COUNTY — With a series of promotions Tuesday, Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Commission filled vacant officer positions and gave the nod to new duties for one of its sergeants.

Sgt. William Hite was moved into a new role as desk sergeant, senior sergeant and instructor that will see him primarily working at the station, but taking to the streets when the need arises.

The position comes with no change in salary and Hite remains a member of the union, said Police Chief Riley Smoot Jr.

Hite, who was hired as a part-time patrolman in Sept. 1993 and was moved to full time in June 1995, will work roughly during the day on weekdays, but his schedule will be flexible and he will supervise the officers of all three patrol shifts. He will substitute for the chief and captain when they are off, and take to the road when there is a call-off during the day or an on-duty policeman has to appear in court.

Hite also will prepare schedules, have a hand in records management,  prisoner oversight and investigations, and deal with walk-ins, whether it be members of the public wishing to file reports or Megan’s Law offenders who need to be fingerprinted, Smoot said.

Farrell Councilman Robert Burich supported the move, but expressed apprehension.

“That takes a good guy off the street,” he said.

Smoot responded that he believes Hite, who came to Southwest from the former West Middlesex police force and has been a sergeant since June 2000, will be even more effective in his new role than he has been as patrol sergeant.

Hite’s flexibility in taking to the street when need be and dealing with walk-ins will lessen overtime and keep men on the street who would otherwise have to come into the station, Smoot said.

With Hite assuming a new role and Sgt. Dan Oster retiring this year, that opened two patrol sergeant positions. The commission promoted Charles Rubano and Jon Rococi from corporal to fill those slots.

Rubano started as a part-time patrolman in June 1996, and was made full time in January 1999. He became a corporal in January 2003.

Rococi joined the force on a part-time basis in January 1995 and started full time two years later. He was promoted to corporal in June 2000.

The commission also promoted Jason Newton and Louis Lauderbaugh from patrolmen to corporals. Newton began work in July 2004, while Lauderbaugh was made full time in August 2007, and after having served as a part-timer since September 2003.

The moves are effective Oct. 1.

Jonathan DeCarmen was pulled from the part-time force, which he joined in May 2011, into a full-time position, effective Nov. 1, and two more full-timers will be hired sometime in the future, Smoot said.

“All these individuals we’re promoting are outstanding officers,” Smoot said.

He added that the promoted officers leapfrogged some with more experience, showing they were promoted based on their performance and not out of any sense of entitlement.

“You have officers who have proven themselves by implementing their training, their dedication to the department and their willingness to learn,” Smoot said.

The force has 21 full-time policemen and 11 part-timers, although senior patrolman Robert David, a former Shenango Township patrolman, is retiring at the end of the year.

Farrell Mayor Olive M. McKeithan asked about hiring minorities to fill vacant positions, and Smoot responded that he is always looking to do that, but the minority pool has been more of a drying-up puddle.

“We just don’t get applications,” he said.

Whenever the department is seeking new part-time patrolmen – and part-timers have always been promoted to full-time openings under Smoot’s leadership – Smoot spreads word among church pastors, the Shenango Valley Urban League and in the newspaper in hopes of attracting minority candidates, he said.