Tonight, the Sterling Heights City Council confirmed City Manager Mark Vanderpool’s appointment of Dale Dwojakowski as the City’s next Police Chief. Dwojakowski’s role as Chief becomes effective Wednesday, Sept. 6.
The position of Police Chief has been vacant since former Police Chief John Berg’s retirement in June. Dwojakowski, 21-year department veteran, was the top-scoring promotional list candidate from the city’s most recent assessment study through Troy-based Empco, Inc., a company that specializes in independent testing services for public safety and municipal government agencies. For the last 60 days, Dwojakowski has served as the Interim Police Chief.
Dale Dwojakowski was born and raised in Sterling Heights and is a proud graduate of Henry Ford II High School. Over the course of his career with the Sterling Heights Police Department, Dwojakowski progressed through the ranks while compiling an impressive list of accomplishments. Early in his law enforcement career, he participated in community outreach as a DARE officer. At the rank of sergeant, Dwojakowski focused on police operations with an emphasis on excellent customer service by all officers under his command. As a lieutenant, Dwojakowski administered the Traffic Safety Bureau and gained experience in public relations in discharging public information officer duties.
Since 2015, Dwojakowski has served in the rank of Captain for both the Police Department’s Administrative Services and Operations Divisions. These assignments provided exposure to budgeting, purchasing, personnel, payroll, records, animal control, training, and all aspects of police operations. In these varied roles, Dwojakowski’s accomplishments include:
Effective departmental planning and implementation of security for the annual Sterlingfest Arts and Music Fair;
Implementation of the paperless ticket process which has greatly increased the efficiency and cost effectiveness for departmental and 41A District Court processes;
Development and implementation of the first-ever, in-house command officers’ training program. This training module has proven very valuable due to the high level of recent turnover in the command officer ranks due to retirements;
Key participant and presenter of the 2030 Visioning strategic plan that is shaping the future of Sterling Heights;
Recipient of six letters of commendation, sixty-five citizen recognition letters, and twenty perfect attendance awards.
“I am pleased to have a candidate like Dale Dwojakowski take on the role of Police Chief in Sterling Heights,” Vanderpool said. “Not only is he extremely well-qualified for the position, he’s also someone who was born and raised in this community. He knows and cares for Sterling Heights the way our residents do and will absolutely uphold the high level of public safety they have come to know and expect from our police department.”
Media looking to schedule an interview with Dwojakowski or related questions can contact Community Relations Director Bridget Kozlowski at (586) 446-2471 or email bkoz@sterling-heights.net.