Dayton police chief of staff leaving post
Stiver retires from force after 20 years, takes S. Carolina job.
A staple in the Dayton community is moving on to new heights after a long career serving the Gem City.
Major Wendy Stiver, Dayton Police Department chief of staff, is retiring from the Dayton force March 31, despite her dream of retiring someday on April Fool’s Day. Stiver joined the department in 1999 and has since built a long resume of accomplishments, both professionally and for the city of Dayton.
Before moving to chief of staff after 17 years as a Dayton police officer, Stiver worked her way up to one of the most high-profile positions in the department, major of the Central Patrol Operations Division, which includes downtown and the Oregon District, her own neighborhood.
When Dayton Police Chief Richard
Biehl was first appointed to lead the Dayton department in 2008, Stiver was a police officer assigned to Patrol Operations. Biehl saw Stiver promoted to three supervisory ranks since 2008 — police sergeant, police lieutenant, and police major.
“Throughout my tenure, I have seen her flourish in her varied assignments and make significant contributions to administrative and operational practices of the Dayton Police Department,” Biehl said. “Her contributions locally and in shaping national policing policy will continue to benefit members of the greater Dayton community as well as police personnel and community members across the nation. Well done Major Stiver.”
On April 6, Stiver will join the Charleston Police Department in South Carolina as its direc
tof research & procedural justice.
“Perhaps the greatest moment of decision was when Chief Luther Reynolds (Charleston Police Department) called me with pride to tell me that Charleston scored an 80 on the HRC equity rating,” Stiver said. “He was proud because it was the highest score in the state of South Carolina . ... He’s committed to moving the needle to continuously improving the culture.”
Stiver will now help the Charleston department implement the findings of the audit and work on some of the systemic racial bias issues Stiver said most departments in the country are facing.
Stiver has spearheaded efforts to bring a more inclusive culture to the Dayton department and has developed policies, with the support of Biehl, that better protect the rights of marginalized populations like the
LGBTQ community.
Now Stiver will take her talents to develop similar policies for departments at a national level.
As a major port where slaves were brought to the United States, Charleston is an important place to do this work, she said.
“You just have a lot of deeply entrenched historical issues there that it’s a really important place to make sure we’re trying to keep the community safe, while we’re also not harming people in the process,” Stiver said.
As ready as Stiver is to embark on the next endeavor, leaving will be hard. “It’s a bittersweet experience to leave and move on,” Stiver said. “But this is the right time.”
Stiver commended her Dayton colleagues and gave special praise to Sgt. Chad Knight for his work during the Oregon District mass shooting.
“He understood why it was important for the officers to be there when they were there,” Stiver said.