Arkansas State Police director Col. Stan Witt will be demoted to major when the agency's new director is sworn in Tuesday, a relegation that officials believe is a first in the agency's 80-year history.
Witt requested to be "bumped down" to major in the administrative services division at a state police commission meeting Wednesday. A 30-year veteran of the agency, Witt said he would like to remain with the state police until his pension begins Jan. 1. The seven-person commission unanimously approved his request.
Gov. Mike Beebe appointed Witt as director in August 2012 to replace the retiring J.R. Howard. State police directors automatically assume the rank of colonel.
Witt's successor, longtime U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official Bill Bryant, attended Wednesday's meeting, his first since Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson appointed him to the position last month. Bryant acknowledged a public welcome from the commission and said he was "honored and excited" to take over.
As he has in the past, Bryant declined to discuss his appointment further with reporters, saying there would be a more appropriate time to answer questions.
Witt's annual salary will be reduced from $118,786 to $96,212. He'll replace Maj. Les Braunns as the head of state police administrative services, a division of commissioned lawmen and civilian personnel responsible for recruiting and training troopers. Braunns retired in November. Witt was assistant commander of the division before his appointment to director.
Witt said he'll be an adviser to Bryant, if needed. Bryant spent 20 years of his law enforcement career at the Little Rock office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, where he was a criminal investigator, resident agent in charge and, most recently, assistant special agent in charge.
"Certainly, one of the things I want to do in my last year is help him in any way I can, based on my experience," Witt said. "And I don't know exactly what my role is going to be down the road, but I have told him that I'm 100 percent committed to helping him succeed. He's going to have a lot to learn next year, and I'll help him any way I can, based on my experience."
State Police Commissioner Lewis Shepherd of Arkadelphia said he believes Witt's move to major will be the first time the agency's top official has been demoted. Bill Sadler, state police spokesman, said that past directors have left the agency and returned under appointments by different governors, but he found no record of a director being demoted.
Witt of Austin began his law enforcement career at the Walnut Ridge Police Department in 1975 as a telecommunications operator. He was 19.
He was elected sheriff of Lawrence County in 1984 and resigned the next year to become a state police trooper. Witt served with Troop B in Newport until 1992. He transferred to Company F in Jonesboro as an investigator, and he was promoted to corporal before joining the Highway Patrol Division in 1999.
Witt climbed the ranks over the next 11 years, accepting a promotion to sergeant in the Highway Patrol Division before joining the administrative services division as a lieutenant. He was promoted to captain and assistant commander of the administrative services division in 2010.
Witt inherited an agency mired by public scandal when he became the 18th state police director in August 2012.
In the previous months, a state police captain had received an ethics sanction for accepting gifts from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville football program. The captain was later connected to a motorcycle crash involving former Razorbacks football coach Bobby Petrino that exposed Petrino's extramarital affair and led to the coach's firing.
Additionally, a trooper had been fired for illegally confiscating a handgun and disposing of marijuana found during a traffic stop involving a student-athlete at Arkansas State University.
Witt said Wednesday that improving agency morale was among his greatest accomplishments as state police director.
"Morale's up in the agency. I'm told morale's higher than it's ever been," he said. "So, I guess that's an indicator that what I've done is right and everybody's happy. I feel like I left it better than I got it."
Witt also said he maintained the chain of command in the agency with significant annual turnover. He told commissioners that he thinks the agency has "the best command staff we've ever had."
"During my tenure as director, I was able to make about 65 promotions. We were stagnant in supervisory areas, so that was one of my main priorities when I took over, to fill those positions. And I about got all of them filled," he said.
Wednesday's meeting was the last for another agency linchpin.
Commission Chairman Daniel "Woody" Futrell of Nashville, the 75-year-old grandson of state police founder and Arkansas Gov. Junius Marion Futrell, stepped down after more than 22 years on the agency's oversight body. He is the longest-serving commissioner in state police history.
Wednesday, he recalled how his grandfather pushed legislators for years to establish such an agency before the General Assembly approved it in 1935. He said Gov. Futrell sought to install a statewide law enforcement agency despite direct threats from certain sheriffs involved in illegal gambling and bootlegging.
"It's meant a lot for me to serve this organization that he worked so hard to effect ... He would be happy to see that state police has done what he set it up to do: to protect the people of Arkansas," Futrell said.
Commission Vice Chairman Wallace Fowler of Jonesboro will succeed Futrell.
Sadler called Futrell "the cornerstone of the state police."
Commissioner John Fowler of Jonesboro shared his sentiment.
"We're going to miss him immensely," he said. "His knowledge of the agency was so important to us over the years."
Metro on 01/08/2015