{"id":48139,"date":"2026-08-06T15:18:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T19:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=48139"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:02:19","slug":"natural-resources-police-promotes-38-officers-announces-leadership-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2026\/08\/06\/natural-resources-police-promotes-38-officers-announces-leadership-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Resources Police Promotes 38 Officers, Announces Leadership Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieutenant Colonel Brent Trautman named Deputy Superintendent; other officers honored for new leadership roles at ceremony in Arnold<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 486px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55446907289_cf2674f499_b.jpg\" alt=\"Colonel Orlando Lilly, Major Christopher Morris, Lieutenant Colonel Brent Trautman, and Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz gather at Wednesday&apos;s ceremony in Annapolis. Maryland DNR photo.\" width=\"476\" height=\"381\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colonel Orlando Lilly, Major Christopher Morris, Lieutenant Colonel Brent Trautman, and Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz gather at Wednesday&#8217;s ceremony in Annapolis. Maryland DNR photo.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Maryland Natural Resources Police held a promotional ceremony Wednesday evening where 38 officers were recognized for rising in ranks from corporal through lieutenant colonel at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The event began with the promotions of Lieutenant Colonel Brent Trautman and Major Christopher Morris who joined the executive command ranks. Lieutenant Colonel Trautman, a 29-year NRP veteran, was formally promoted to Deputy Superintendent and will serve as the second-in-command to NRP Superintendent Colonel Orlando D. Lilly. Major Morris begins his role as Assistant Superintendent and Commander of the Executive Services Bureau, where he will oversee strategic planning, accreditation, policy, and more. <\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Remarks were delivered by Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz, NRP Superintendent Colonel Orlando D. Lilly, and retired Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Dr. Eric Murray.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI\u2019m inspired by the growth mindset and selfless leadership our officers possess and we\u2019re incredibly proud to recognize their accomplishments,\u201d Sec. Kurtz said. \u201cIt takes a distinct level of dedication to protect and police our natural resources, and it\u2019s even more recognizable to take the next step and lead others toward agency and department pursuits for the greater benefit of Marylanders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Three commissioned officers were promoted from lieutenant to captain:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Captain Lindsey Markert was named Regional Commander for the Field Operations Bureau.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Captain Brian Chris Miller was promoted to Commander of the Special Operations Division.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Captain April Sharpeta was named Commander of Training, Recruitment, and Outreach.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Six officers also entered the commissioned ranks as lieutenants, assuming leadership roles supervising patrol officers and specialized units:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieutenant Michael Greenfield,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieutenant Robert Karge,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieutenant Ethan Leonard,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieutenant Kimberly Smith,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieutenant John Vogt, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieutenant Sean Wiles.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Seven officers were promoted to sergeant, marking their first formal leadership assignments within the agency:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sergeant John Butts,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sergeant Martin Kaetzel,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sergeant Albert Leavell,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sergeant Heshimu McCray,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sergeant McKenzie Neville,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sergeant Christopher Stancliff, and\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sergeant Brian Walter.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The largest group of promotions included 20 officers advancing to the rank of corporal. Assigned throughout the state across the Field Operations, Special Operations, and Support Services bureaus, these newly promoted first-line supervisors are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Nathan Bradley,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Thomas Burt,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Joseph Caw,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Liam D&#8217;Aoust,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Devin Dieter,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Zachary Dix,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Scott Garren,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Joseph Hambrick,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Melissa Harris,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Christian Helwig,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Cody Linton,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Joseph Markiewicz,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Donald Medtart,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Vernon Owens,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Bryce Parrish,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Lucas Pratt,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Brendan Ryan,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Andrew Shifflett,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Brett Simon, and\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Corporal Stephen Street.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ceremony was attended by several law enforcement leaders from across Maryland, including Maryland State Police Colonel Michael Jackson, Maryland Capitol Police Colonel Glend McGuire, Maryland Transportation Authority Police Acting Colonel Ronce Alford, and Annapolis Police Department Acting Chief Amy Miguez.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A full photo album of the event can be found on the department\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/marylanddnr\/albums\/72177720335013157\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flickr page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lieutenant Colonel Brent Trautman named Deputy Superintendent; other officers honored for new leadership roles at ceremony in Arnold The Maryland Natural Resources Police held a promotional ceremony Wednesday evening where 38 officers were recognized for rising in ranks from corporal through lieutenant colonel at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold. The event began with the<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2026\/08\/06\/natural-resources-police-promotes-38-officers-announces-leadership-updates\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,14],"tags":[5729,4975,5211,5236],"class_list":["post-48139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-nrp-news","tag-ceremony","tag-maryland-natural-resources-police","tag-nrp","tag-police"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48139"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48151,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48139\/revisions\/48151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}