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Albemarle County Police Major Sean Reeves will become the department’s first home-grown chief when he takes office March 1.
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors announced on Wednesday that Reeves, who currently serves as a deputy chief on the department, will take over for retiring Chief Ron Lantz, who announced his retirement last year. Lantz has been chief since 2016.
Reeves joined the county police department in 2001 to start his law enforcement career. He is also the first veteran and first member of the Latin American community to lead the department.
Reeves said he was “honored in the faith, trust and confidence” of county officials in approving his promotion.
“This journey would not have been possible without the support of my family, friends, various community members and members of the Albemarle County Police Department, both past and present,” he said.
Reeves served in the U.S. Army and graduated from the FBI’s National Criminal Justice Command College. He has a master’s degree in criminal justice from Liberty University and has served as a patrolman, investigator and in professional standards and community support.
“I couldn’t be more proud of an individual for how he’s worked starting in this organization as a line level police officer and committing himself to 20 years within Albemarle County’s police department and serving in a variety of roles,” County Executive Jeff Richardson said.
Albemarle hired a search firm for the police chief position, but was not able to provide cost estimates for the search on Wednesday.
As part of the process, the county released a community survey to gauge what attributes residents wanted to see in its new chief. More than 550 people responded to the survey, the county said in a news release.
In his time with the county, Reeves helped create the department’s cybercrime unit, a community coalition for mental health crisis response, worked on the body camera program, and served as the department’s lead in county incident management teams for COVID-19, Confederate statue removal and events surrounding the Unite the Right rally in August 2017.
The county will hold several opportunities for residents to meet Reeves and will announce dates in February.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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