By Allen Payton

As part of the change in leadership in the Antioch Police Department, four officers were promoted, given their oaths of office and pinned to begin their new positions, during a ceremony before a standing room only crowd of family, friends and fellow police, at the Antioch Police Facility on Thursday, January 7^th.

Desmond Bittner was promoted to Lieutenant, Jimmy Wisecarver was promoted to Sergeant, and both Mike Mortimer and Matt Koch were promoted to Corporal.

“This is the changing of the guard and these gentlemen are going to be part of it,” said Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando, who presided over the ceremony.

He then spoke about each of the four officers who have served together for the past eight years.

Cantando said to laughter from the audience, that Bittner told him “Myself, Koch and Mortimer were all explorers together and we all used to ride with Jimmy because he was the cool officer to ride with.”

He spoke of Wisecarver being a second-generation member of the APD, following in the footsteps of his father Jim, Sr. who, with his wife, was in the audience to support their son.

Speaking about Mortimer, the Chief said “He’s looked a lot different over the last three or four years” speaking of his undercover work.

“Mike could have easily been in a rap video, with hair and attire,” Cantando said to more laughter. “But he cleans up pretty good. It was my pleasure to tell him to get a haircut.”

When it was time to promote Corporal Koch, I was advised by other agencies not to,” Cantando said. That was because they like working with him on a multi-jurisdiction task force.

Then, Antioch Mayor Wade Harper, who administered the oath of office to each of the men, shared his thoughts.

“To me this brings the finest hour to our city to our PD,” he said.

He then spoke of the murder clearance rate for 2015, which “was almost 100% except for a technicality.”

“Police arrested suspects sometimes within days of the homicide,” Harper stated. “That’s not necessarily because of me, but because of the fine men and women of the police department, both sworn and unsworn.”

After being sworn in, each officer had a chance to speak in order of rank.

“I want to thank God,” Bittner said. “He has a plan and I trust his plan.”

He thanked his family and all those who were there and had helped him in his career, then spoke of the other three being promoted, that day.

“It’s an honor to be up here with these three, great guys,” Bittner shared. “I look forward to working with them in our new capacities.”

Then, Sergeant Wisecarver spoke

“I definitely have a lot of people to thank, all of my friends and family to support me now and throughout all the time,” he said. “This promotion and the new assignment that I’ve been given means the world to me. My dad worked here in this department and he really set a standard. I strive to reach that standard.”

“I value those opportunities that I’ve been given,” Wisecarver continued. “Thank you to Captain[s] Orman and Aguinaga for believing in me.”

Corporal Mortimer was next to speak.

“Looking in this room there are so many people that have been here for the last eight years,” he said. “At 16 years I started here.”

He got choked up as he thanked the Chief for “believing in me” and “Orman and Aguinaga for being with me every step of my career.”

He also thanked “Acting Captain Moorefield for his leadership. He’s taught me everything.”

“I especially want to thank Desmond who’s been my friend since childhood,” Mortimer shared. “He’s been with me through everything.”

“I want to thank my wife and daughter,” he continued. “You are my support systems and know how much I love this job.”

“Obviously, Mike has a big heart so it’s nice to see people get emotional up here,” Cantando commented.

Finally, Corporal Koch shared his appreciation and thoughts.

“I want to thank the Chief for this opportunity,” he said. “I also want to thank my wife. This has been a stressful time over the last few months.”

Then he spoke about his daughter and how she would ask “You going to work, daddy? OK. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I want to thank the gentlemen I’m sitting next to,” Koch continued. “It’s been great to pick each and everyone of your guys’ brains to choose my own way.”

He then thanked a variety of officers.

“Watching your leadership styles and being able to follow in your footsteps is an honor for me,” he added.

Cantando offered his final thoughts.

“There are people in this room that have definitely impacted these gentlemen,” he said. “So, I thank you for that.”

He then spoke about sitting on a chief’s interview panel, the day before.

“We were asked ‘What is one of the most important things about being a police chief?’” he stated. “Unanimously, what we talked about is promotions. We are promoting the values of the PD and the expectations. The men sitting up here today have the confidence of the command staff.”

“They’ve worked very hard,” Cantando continued. “They weren’t given it. They earned it. These gentlemen are the future of APD. “

the attachments to this post:

Koch gets pinned by wife

Mortimer oath of office

Wisecarvers hug

Wisecarver Sr prepares to pin Jr

Bittner pinned by son

Cantando & four promoted officers

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2016 at 10:07 pm and is filed under News, Police & Crime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.