The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Zanesville Post has a new assistant post commander. Sergeant Reid Phillips has transferred from the Marietta Post to serve as the Zanesville Post’s assistant commander following his promotion to sergeant on September 20, according to an Ohio State Highway Patrol release, and the Zanesville Times Recorder reported the appointment on November 6.
Phillips was recognized by Colonel Charles A. Jones, the Patrol’s superintendent, during a ceremony at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Training Academy in Columbus, the Patrol said in its October 30 release announcing the promotion. The promotion itself took effect September 20; the Zanesville Post serves the Zanesville and Muskingum County area, and Phillips now helps lead it.
Phillips began his Patrol career in April 2017 as a member of the 162nd Academy Class, earned his commission that September, and was assigned to the Marietta Post, where he served until this transfer, according to the Patrol’s release. The Times Recorder’s November 6 report carried the same career details, attributing them to the Patrol’s announcement.
His record as a trooper includes an assignment to the Patrol’s Training Unit — the unit that prepares new troopers — along with four Criminal Patrol Awards, the Patrol said. He was designated a master trooper in 2024, a designation that came seven years into his career.
Before joining the Patrol, Phillips graduated from West Liberty University in 2015 with a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice, according to the release. He brought that degree to the academy two years later, and his path from the 162nd Academy Class to a sergeant’s stripes and an assistant commander’s post has taken nine years.
The Highway Patrol is an internationally accredited agency and a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Patrol notes in its release. Assistant post commanders help lead the day-to-day work of a patrol post — the troopers who cover Muskingum County’s highways and respond across the surrounding area.
What happens next at the same post is a chance to join it. The Zanesville Post holds a trooper hiring event from 2 to 6 p.m. on November 9 at the post, 3760 East Pike in Zanesville, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported in its November 2 week-ahead roundup — attendees can speak with recruiters and complete applications on site, with Trooper Nicholas Smith listed as the contact. Phillips, who made the same decision in 2017, will be part of the leadership of the post those applicants hope to join.
Photo: Raymond Wambsgans, CC BY