City of Bellevue, Nebraska Police Department

Lieutenant Mark Elbert is the commander currently assigned to the Professional Standards Bureau. His three primary responsibilities are conducting administrative investigations, overseeing the selection of new officers and civilian staff, and managing department training.

His work regarding administrative investigations involves responding to citizen inquires or concerns about police services. This involves investigating complaints against officers or other civilian staff at the department. He also processes all department level commendations. These commendations are generated from citizens, department supervisors, or other staff.

Lt Elbert is responsible for managing the annual training regarding certification areas throughout the year working with instructors and other staff. The Bellevue Police Department has many members that are certified as instructors in different areas of expertise. Furthermore, there are particular training items that require annual recertification such as firearms, emergency vehicle operations, defensive tactics, and other specialty areas. He also coordinates all other training for the police department that takes place outside the agency itself. All local, state, and national training is coordinated by Lt Elbert. It is also his responsibility to oversee the department’s annual job related fitness testing.

Lt Elbert maintains and oversees the selection process of new police officers and civilian staff. This is accomplished by working with the city’s personnel director, the civil service, and chief of police. The process in place involves written testing, physical agility testing, oral board interviews, and an extensive background investigation. New police candidates must also then participate in medical testing, psychological testing, and finally a polygraph.

He was hired in January of 1996 by the Bellevue Police. He has worked in the capacity of police officer and field training officer. In 1999 he was promoted to sergeant and transferred to the criminal investigations bureau. There he supervised general investigations working with detectives and the records staff. In 2002 he was promoted to lieutenant and worked as a watch commander for "C" team prior to being reassigned to the Bureau of Professional Standards. He is a team leader of the South Metro Swat Team, and has been with the team since 1998. He has served as one of the department field training coordinators. He attained his drug recognition expert certification in 1998. He also attained a personal trainer certification in 2001. He was named the department's police officer of the year in 1997.

Lt Elbert graduated from Bishop Garrigan High School in Algona, Iowa. He earned his undergraduate degree in criminal justice from the University of South Dakota. He has a master’s degree in leadership from Bellevue University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy 224th session.

Prior to joining the Bellevue Police he worked as a police officer in Fremont, Nebraska for two years. He worked as a juvenile probation officer in Papillion, Nebraska prior to starting his law enforcement career.