Published: November 21, 2008 10:17 pm      

Beckley P.D. assigns ex-Marines to positions as investigators

The Beckley Police Department will move two road patrol officers to fill open investigator slots, and both have stood in the yellow footprints at Parris Island.

Chief Tim Deems said Cpl. Jamie Blume will move to the detective bureau Dec. 1, and on the same day, Patrolman B.L. Fuller will move to the Narcotics Enforcement Division. Blume was hired in March 2006, and Fuller in April 2007.

Moving both Blume and Fuller will fill empty spots in both the detective bureau and narcotics unit that have been vacant since Deems became chief. Manpower was short and road patrol was the primary staffing priority. The moves will fully staff both units.

“They will bring needed help,” Deems said. “These units have been shorthanded, and we are finally to the point where we have enough people to fully staff the detective bureau and drug unit.”

Deems noted both Blume and Fuller served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Fuller, a Boston native, served in the corps for five years and toured eight countries — including those in the Middle East. He said that as a drug investigator he would have the time to handle investigations from start to finish.

Blume, who served as a military police officer in Iraq, said he looked forward to working in a different area of law enforcement and learning from the senior detectives in the bureau.

Deems said military veterans tend to bring a strong work ethic to police work, but Blume said this is true of everyone in the department.

“Everyone at the entire department has a great work ethic,” he said. “I can’t say I’m different from anyone else.”

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com