Looking back on his three decades of service with the Braintree Police Department, newly promoted Deputy Chief Wayne Foster said his favorite position was as a sergeant.

In that role, he was able to retain many of the responsibilities of a cop working the street but also flex his managerial abilities.

"I never foresaw" moving into the second-highest role in the department, Foster said in a recent interview.

Foster was sworn-in earlier this month as Deputy Chief, replacing Russell Jenkins, who was selected last fall to be Braintree's police chief.

Before joining the BPD in February 1983, Foster earned a criminal justice degree from Boston State College and then worked for the campus police at Boston College. He grew up in South Boston and moved with his family to Braintree in 1975.

After marrying his wife Elaine – they have a son and two daughters – they settled in Abington. Elaine is a teacher in Holbrook.

Foster was promoted to sergeant in 1988 and lieutenant in 1991. He most recently served as lieutenant in charge of the relief shift.

So far Foster has been put in charge of the patrol and traffic division, and he and Chief Jenkins are still shaping his role in the department, Foster said.

"I’m just here to assist the chief," Foster said. We’re pretty luck to have him. We’ve been friends for a long time.”