Two Tyler Officers Promoted

TYLER – Two members of the Tyler Police Department were promoted Monday morning. Police Chief Gary Swindle promoted Robert Lee Plymail, a graduate from Hawkins High School in 1983, from sergeant to lieutenant. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1983 to 1986 when he was honorably discharged. He graduated from the East Texas Police Academy in 1986. Lee worked for the Smith County Sheriff from 1987 to 1993. He has been with the Tyler Police Department since 1993. In 1998 he was promoted to Sergeant and served as a patrol Sergeant until 2008. In 2008 he moved to investigations as the Youth Crimes Sergeant.

Plymail received the Certificate of Merit bar in 2002 and the Police Commendation bar in 2004. He has Master Peace Officer certificate through TCLEOSE and has been a TCLEOSE Instructor since 1998. He has instructed Family Violence, Penal Code and Arrest and Search and Seizure classes in the basic academy. He has also instructed Intermediate Arrest Search and Seizure for in service training. Lee has been a member of the Special Operations Team since 2008

Also at the ceremony, Officer Paul Robeson was promoted to Sergeant. Robeson began working for the Tyler Police Department in May of 2002, and currently holds an Advanced Peace Officer license. In 2003, Paul was chosen as the Rookie of the Year. That same year he worked as a cross-trained Investigator in Property Crimes. He also joined the Honor Guard that year and has been an active member since then. Within a few years of being hired, Paul was chosen as an FTO where he served for several years. He also became part of the Police Department’s Accident Investigation team as well as a TCLEOSE instructor.

In 2006, Robeson was selected to work in the Criminal Investigation Division as a Crimes Against Children Investigator. While working within this division he received several awards including: Plain Clothes Officer of the Month, Unit of the Year, East Texas Crisis Center Hope Award, and several other Volunteer awards given through the Childrens Advocacy Center.

In December 2007, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from UT Tyler. And, in May 2009, Paul transferred into the Traffic division where he has been working up to this point. Since obtaining his Peace Officer license, he has received hundreds of hours of specialized training furthering his knowledge. He has been trained as an intermediate crime scene officer and has processed numerous major scenes. He has also received advanced training in accident investigations. He has attended 100’s of hours of investigation related courses.