Norwich — Cheers, tears and a tinge of a somber tone were part of the promotion ceremony Thursday for two veteran Norwich police officers who announced themselves ready to take on supervisory roles on the midnight shift.

Sgt. Timothy Rykowski, 38, a 13-year Norwich police veteran, was promoted to lieutenant, a vacancy created by the retirement of Lt. Darren Powers, who sat in the audience. Officer Avery M.T. Marsh, 31, a 10-year Norwich police veteran, was promoted to sergeant. Both will work the midnight patrol shift.

Both credited the support and sacrifices of their families for the success they have achieved in their careers and included their Norwich police colleagues in their definition of family.

Marsh said he joined the Norwich department at age 21; “I probably looked like I was 15,” he said. Short in stature, Marsh said a towering 6-foot, 4-inch burly officer stood over him at his locker and “demanded I let him borrow $20.”

“At that point, I knew I was part of the Norwich police family,” Marsh said.

Marsh graduated from East Lyme High School in 2004 and received his associate degree in criminal justice at Johnson and Wales University in 2006. He has served as a patrolman, a crisis intervention team member, a bicycle officer, a narcotics canine handler, a detective and a marine unit crew member.

Police Chief Patrick Daley said Marsh has received numerous letters of commendation during his career and was awarded a Meritorious Service Award and a Life-Saving Award.

Marsh’s wife, Katie Marsh, pinned on his new badge, with their two daughters, Laelia, 7, and Lexi, 3, standing and smiling by their sides. The family lives in Waterford.

Rykowski’s father, Jim Rykowski, 74, pinned on his new badge, with the new lieutenant’s girlfriend, Anne Kineke, watching. His brother, Michael Rykowski, a Hartford police detective, made the trek to Norwich for the ceremony.

Rykowski thanked his family and Kineke for their support and recognized several former supervisors and colleagues in the audience — both current and retired police, including former Chief Louis Fusaro.

“You all have high expectations of me,” Rykowski said. “I will exceed them. I can, I will and I must.”

Rykowski has served as a patrol officer, a field training officer, detective, firearms instructor, background investigator in the training unit and a training sergeant. Daley said his training positions have been invaluable to fellow officers. He has been awarded the Norwich Police Department Medal for Bravery and the department’s Exceptional Service Medal.

Rykowski said being a police officer is difficult. Officers face insults, vulgarity, accusations of corruption and racism and possible violence daily. He said most people can’t imagine what it would be like to return home at the end of a day with a blood-stained uniform.

He told the audience of about 60 people at Norwich City Hall that, on Wednesday night, an Adams County, Colo., sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed. The 32-year-old deputy left a wife and young children, Rykowski said.

Rykowski said he and Marsh are working to earn the public’s trust and the trust of their police colleagues as they “step out of our comfort zones” to work the unfamiliar midnight shift. He pledged that both would succeed.

“We can, we will, we must,” Rykowski said.

c.bessette@theday.com