Milstead says Arizona DPS in good hands after he retires next month
Mar 9, 2020, 11:05 AM
(KTAR News File Photo/Matt Bertram)
PHOENIX – Outgoing Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Col. Frank Milstead said Monday the agency will be in good hands after he retires.
Milstead told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show he was glad Gov. Doug Ducey picked Deputy Director Lt. Col. Heston Silbert as his replacement.
“We have put systems in place that we hope outlive our administration because I think it builds that efficiency and a lot of trust and a lot of public notoriety of what DPS is,” he said.
“So it’s very comforting for me to know that it’s him (Silbert).”
Like Milstead, Silbert worked at the Phoenix and Mesa police departments before coming to DPS five years ago. Silbert has 31 years of law enforcement experience.
Milstead said he’d already decided to retire before knowing who would follow him.
“I did not have the assurance that it would be Heston until just actually days ago,” he said.
On Saturday, KTAR News reported that Milstead was stepping down and Silbert would take over.
Ducey made the moves official in an announcement Monday morning, with April 3 set as Milstead’s final day on the job.
The governor called Silbert “one of the most talented law enforcement professionals I’ve had the opportunity to meet.”
“His commitment to the state spans beyond his courageous protection of public safety, with an innovative approach to management, accountability and courteous vigilance that has helped transform an agency and strengthen the culture and respect for our brave state troopers,” Ducey said in a press release.
Ducey appointed Milstead as director in February 2015.
Milstead followed in the footsteps of his father, Col. Ralph T. Milstead, who held the same position in the 1980s.
Before taking the top DPS job, Milstead was chief in Mesa for five years following 25 years on the Phoenix force.
Milstead said he wants to be remembered as somebody who inspired people and treated them fairly.
“At the end of the day you just want to be rememebered as a good leader, a cop’s cop, and I think that holds true,” he said.