By SALINA POST
The Kansas Highway Patrol has promoted Mankato native Lieutenant Dennis Shoemaker to captain.
Herman T. Jones, Kansas Highway Patrol superintendent announced that Shoemaker will serve as commander of Troop S - Special Response Team/SRT, Hazardous Device Unit, and the Police Service Dog Unit/PDSU.
Shoemaker attended the Kansas Highway Patrol Training Academy and graduated with Class 31 in 1998, according to information from the highway patrol. His first duty station was Cheyenne County in Troop D. In 1999, he transferred to Troop B in Douglas County. Shoemaker was promoted to master trooper in 2005. He transferred to Troop S - Special Response Team and while there became a technical trooper. In 2010, Shoemaker transferred to Troop B as a master trooper. He was promoted to lieutenant and assumed supervisory duties in Shawnee County in 2013. Shoemaker then was named administrative lieutenant of Troop S in 2016.
Prior to his service with the Kansas Highway Patrol, Shoemaker was a police officer in Hays and in Great Bend, the highway patrol noted in a news release on its Facebook page.
Shoemaker is a native of Mankato and graduated from Mankato High School. He attended Highland Community College and Fort Hays State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts.