Evansville police commission approves promotions, advances four applicants and issues awards

The Evansville Police Mayor Commission on June 23 approved multiple personnel actions, including promotions and awards, and voted to advance four applicants in the department’s promotional process.

Chief Smith announced that Sergeant Justin Jackson will be promoted to lieutenant (badge 489) on June 26, 2025; Officer Eric Belfort will be promoted to sergeant (badge 5231) on June 26, 2025; and Detective Brian Watson will be promoted to sergeant (badge 5232) on June 26, 2025. Commissioners then recommended moving all four applicants forward in the promotional process. A motion to recommend advancing the applicants was seconded and recorded as carried with commissioners responding “Aye.”

The chief also presented two sworn commendations. Chief Smith recommended a Lifesaver Award for Officer Corey (transcript spelling uncertain: recorded as “Stott” and later as “Stats”) for actions on June 16, 2025. The chief further recommended a silver merit award for Officer Blake Zachary for actions on May 24, 2025. Commissioners moved to accept the chief’s recommendation for the merit award; the motion was seconded and carried with an “Aye” vote. The chief noted the other award had already been issued.

Commissioners congratulated the promoted officers and award recipients. The commission did not record detailed roll-call tallies in the transcript; actions were announced as carried with “Aye.” The commission scheduled its next meeting for July 14, 2025, at 4:15 p.m.

Clarifying details: badge numbers and effective dates were given for the promotions; the transcript shows uncertainty over the spelling of the Lifesaver Award recipient’s last name (appears as both “Stott” and “Stats” in the record).