Wheeling Police Department reorganizes patrol districts, promotes commanders | News, Sports, Jobs

|Photo by Emma Delk| Detective Sgt. Rob Safreed of the Wheeling Police Department advises “being skeptical” when identifying online scams.

WHEELING – The city Police Department has announced several promotions within its command staff and created a new fourth patrol district to improve geographic policing in Wheeling.

According to a department press release, the new patrol district, known as the “Downtown District,” includes downtown from 9th to 20th streets and the East Wheeling neighborhood. The other three police districts within the city are the North, South and East Districts, all of which cover specific geographic areas of the city.

The North District includes Wheeling Island, Warwood, North Wheeling, and North Park. The South District stretches from 20th Street to the city limits at 48th Street in South Wheeling. The East District includes all areas from the Fulton neighborhood east to Elm Grove.

As part of the district changes, the WPD will implement a “Downtown Crime Watch” later this year, which is designed to have business owners meet with police on a regular basis to discuss ways to improve safety. Once that is complete, more information will be available to businesses in the area.

Three officers were recently promoted to lieutenant within the Patrol Division to reflect the new district changes. The promotions occurred between April and June.

Lt. Ryan Ferrell will serve as the newly created Downtown District Commander and oversee the department’s Bravo patrol shift. Lt. Ferrell joined the WPD in 2010.

Lt. Josh Raddish, who most recently headed the Office of Professional Standards, has been named shift commander of the department’s East District and Delta Patrol. Lt. Raddish has been with the WPD for 20 years.

Lt. Doug Howell is currently the shift supervisor for the Northern District and the Charlie Patrol. Most recently, Howell was the department’s training and fleet manager. Howell has been with the WPD since 2004.

The current Southern District and Alpha Shift Commander, Lt. Jonathan Stipetich, will remain in his current role.

Other notable promotions within the command staff include the promotion of Josh Sanders to deputy chief. As deputy chief, Sanders will serve as commander of the Bureau of Investigation and oversee the Criminal Investigation Division, Drug Task Force, School Police Officers and certain staff positions. He joined the WPD in 2005 and most recently served as commander of Special Operations.

Three officers are taking on new roles within the department. These include:

Lt. Russell Campbell, Jr. will now serve as the Special Operations Commander. Lt. Campbell recently supervised a patrol shift and has been with WPD for 18 years. The Special Operations Commander oversees all special events, the traffic unit, field training, and traffic safety.

Sergeant Andrew Adams currently heads the Office of Professional Standards and Sergeant Doug Somerville is now the department’s training and fleet manager. Both were most recently patrol shift supervisors.

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