AUGUSTA — Col. Alfred R. Skofield, chief of the Maine State Police, recently promoted two members of his department, Dale P. Lancaster of Cornville and Peter L. Stewart of Bucksport.

Lancaster has been promoted to lieutenant and has been assigned to head the department’s criminal division in southern Maine. Lancaster oversees the two sergeants and 12 detectives who investigate homicides and suspicious deaths in Androscoggin, Franklin, Oxford, Cumberland and York counties.

The 40-year-old Lancaster has 22 years of Maine law enforcement experience, most recently serving as a detective-sergeant in central Maine.

He is a 1974 graduate of Madison High School and is attending the University of Maine. He is a member of the State Police Tactical Team.

Stewart has been promoted to the rank of sergeant. The 33-year-old Stewart joined the state police in 1984 and has patrolled the Greater Bangor area as a member of Troop E in Orono.

His new assignment is as a patrol supervisor in Troop D in Thomaston, which covers the midcoast region from Brunswick to the Penobscot River.

Stewart is a 1981 graduate of Bucksport High School and he holds a degree in legal technology from the University of Maine.