The former head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Little Rock operations will lead the Arkansas State Police under Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Hutchinson announced Wednesday that Bill Bryant, who formerly was the resident agent in charge of the agency's Little Rock office, will succeed Col. Stan Witt as the director of the state police. Witt said earlier this week that he had been informed Hutchinson would make a change in state police leadership.
Bryant served as chief of the Office of Congressional Affairs for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration while Hutchinson was its director before returning to Arkansas in 2002. He spent the next 12 years leading the Little Rock office, retiring from that position in January and working as a state director for the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area in Arkansas and Memphis.
Hutchinson called Bryant an "ideal" candidate for the position.
"Bill returned to Arkansas to lead the DEA in this state and he has provided extraordinary leadership in supporting law enforcement at both the state and local level," Hutchinson said in a statement. "Bill's integrity and dedication is respected by law enforcement professionals across the nation and I have no doubt that Bill will be a great leader of the Arkansas State Police.”