The Selma Police Department honored newly promoted members of the force at a ceremony luncheon at the Convention Center Monday morning.

Promoted officers are Sgt. Reginald Fitts, Sgt. Kenta Fulford, Sgt. Curtis Muhannad, Sgt. Natasha Rozzell, Lt. Johnny King, Lt. Scott Swanson and Lt. Tommy Weber.

All honored officers were promoted to their new rankings on Nov. 24,

“This is a great time for us to celebrate the accomplishments of our force,” said William Riley, chief of police. “This is an honor for our officers being promoted, and I am glad to see all the family who supports these people.”

This is the first time the officers have been recognized at a luncheon.

Current officers went through a two-day process of written testing and role-play sequences in which they worked though situations a sergeant or lieutenant might encounter. Top performances in both these fields were then considered with past performances for the open sergeant and lieutenant positions.

“Your job performance really speaks for itself,” said Sgt. Natasha Rozzell, one of the honored officers.

Rozzell is ready for the new responsibilities of sergeant; a position she feels is more supervision than her previous position of officer.

“It’s exciting,” Rozzell said. “This is a big step.”

The department may have more open positions by mid 2010.

The Rev. Dr. Cecil Williamson, city council president pro-tempore, Mayor George Evans and the Rev. Larry Purifoy also offered words of congratulations to the honored officers.

“I want to congratulate all the candidates,” Mayor Evans said. “I want to thank all the officers who put their lives on the line so that we can have security and safety.”