Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
BY TERESA SMITH
Times-Union Staff Writer
Former Warsaw resident Roger Vanderpool has been named Director of the Arizona State Department of Public Safety. Vanderpool graduated from Warsaw Community High School in 1974.
Vanderpool and his wife, Valerie, also a WCHS Class of '74 graduate, moved to Arizona in 1980 to join the Arizona Department of Public Safety as a state trooper. Retiring from the DPS in 2000, Vanderpool was elected Pinal County Sheriff in 2000 and 2004.
Vanderpool is Arizona's first elected sheriff to serve as director of that state's law enforcement agency.
The Arizona State Senate unanimously confirmed Vanderpool in a vote of 30 - 0. He accepted the position March 28.
Gov. Janet Napolitano said she is very pleased with Vanderpool because of his experience.
"He understands the Department of Public Safety," said the governor's spokeswoman, Pati Urias. "He is quite qualified to manage a law enforcement agency."
In Pina County Vanderpool oversaw a budget of $20 million and 350 employees. At the state level the DPS has a $160 million budget and 3,000 employees.
Vanderpool's mother, Jan Bell, lives in Warsaw. His cousin, Daniel Vanderpool, recently joined the law firm of Valentine, Miner and Lemon.
The new director also was a Goshen police officer from 1976 to 1980.
The contact number for the Arizona DPS is 602-223-2359.
