Feb.6,
2017
Kirk promoted
to Deputy Secretary of DMAPS
CHARLESTON,
W.Va. – Thom Kirk is now the deputy secretary of the Department
of Military Affairs and Public Safety, while continuing as its general counsel,
Secretary Jeff Sandy has announced.
The Fairmont native’s career in law
enforcement spans more than a quarter-century, and includes a term as
Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police. He is also the director of
the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center, which like the State Police is
part of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety (DMAPS).
Kirk is the sole deputy secretary of the
Cabinet Department, as part of an ongoing restructuring of its agencies and the
Office of the Secretary.
“Governor Justice wants the best of the
best, and so Kirk is a natural choice as my second-in-command,” Secretary Sandy
said. “His extensive achievements and experience in the public safety realm are
tough to match.”
Those accomplishments include several law
enforcement firsts. After years of conducting major undercover and
anti-narcotics trafficking investigations for the State Police, Kirk founded
its Bureau of Criminal Investigations. He led the BCI as its first commander. Kirk
also created the West Virginia Intelligence Exchange at the State Police, and
became the first deputy secretary of DMAPS in 1993.
Kirk has similarly been the inaugural
director of the Fusion Center, since 2008. It allows federal, state and local
law enforcement and homeland security-related offices to share information,
expertise and other resources in the fight against terrorism, other criminal
activity and all other hazards. Kirk is on the executive board of the National
Fusion Center Association, a network of 78 state, regional and territorial
fusion centers.
While a trooper, Kirk earned his law
degree from West Virginia University’s College of Law. He went on to serve as
an assistant prosecuting attorney and a special assistant U.S. attorney. He is
also a graduate of FBI Executive Institute, Northwestern School of Staff and
Command, Naval Post Graduate School, and the Washington School of Protocol and
Etiquette.
Kirk has taught at several universities,
and instructed law enforcement professionals from Maine to Florida. He has been certified as an expert witness in
both federal and state courts in seven states in the areas of undercover
operations, drug investigations, organized crime, police administration,
behavior sciences and major case felonies.
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