By Matthew Jackson
Huntsville Police Chief Allwin Barrow Jr. has announced the promotion of Lt. Wes Altom to captain, effectively making him second in command at the Huntsville Police Department.
Altom officially assumed captain’s duties on Oct. 27 after a long planning and discussion period.
The promotion is one of a series of new organizational changes initiated by Barrow since he took the police chief job in December of last year.
“Originally the reorganization plan was designed to bring communications closer,” Barrow said. “We probably are looking at some longer term changes in our deployment strategy that will affect our command.
“This will bring about greater continuity based on information flow both up and down and the fact that I have been tasked with some new challenged outside the police department.”
Barrow was named the city’s Director of Public Safety earlier this year after several months in an interim capacity as police chief.
Altom, who joined the HPD in 1989, was first promoted to lieutenant in 2003.
He served as the head of the HPD Support Services Division until 2006, when he took over the Uniformed Services Division.
Barrow said that a third lieutenant to replace Altom will not be named, as Altom will continue to head the patrol division of the department in addition to his new duties as captain.
Barrow said Altom was chosen for the position due to his command philosophy in addition to his seniority among the three HPD lieutenants.
“I think Wes was more global and more departmentally oriented in his thinking,” Barrow said. “On top of that he’s the senior lieutenant.”
Since taking the position Altom has been conducting one on one interviews with every member of the police department in order to gain feedback on the new organizational strategy.
“The other lieutenants and I will be going section by section, meeting with each part of the department and doing an overview,” Altom said. “Where we’re headed in the short term is that we had reached a point in the organizational culture where three divisions had become too divisive, so we’re going to team manage for a bit.”
