The Wheeling Police Department announced several promotions within its command staff and debuted a new fourth patrol district to enhance the city’s geographic policing. 

The new patrol district, known as the ‘Downtown District,’ encompasses downtown from 9^th to 20^th Street and the East Wheeling neighborhood. The other three police districts within the city are the North, South, and East districts, all of which cover specific geographic areas of the city. 

The North District covers Wheeling Island, Warwood, North Wheeling and North Park. The South District covers 20^th Street to the city limits at 48^th Street in South Wheeling. The East District encompasses all areas from the Fulton neighborhood east to Elm Grove. 

As part of the district changes, later this year, WPD will initiate a ‘Downtown Crime Watch’ that is geared towards business owners meeting with police periodically to discuss ways to enhance safety. Once finalized, more information will be available to businesses in the area.

Three officers were recently promoted to Lieutenant within the patrol division to reflect the new district changes. The promotions took place between April and June.

• Lt. Ryan Ferrell will serve as the newly created Downtown District Commander and will oversee the department’s Bravo patrol shift. Lt. Ferrell joined WPD in 2010.
• Lt. Josh Raddish, who recently led the Office of Professional Standards has moved to oversee the department’s East District and Delta Patrol Shift Commander. Lt. Raddish has been with WPD for 20 years.
• Lt. Doug Howell is now the North District and Charlie Patrol Shift Commander. Howell recently was the department’s training and fleet manager. Lt. Howell has been with WPD since 2004.
• Current South District and Alpha Shift Commander, Lt. Jonathan Stipetich will remain in his current role.

 Other noteworthy command staff promotions include the elevation of Josh Sanders to the rank of Deputy Chief. As Deputy Chief, Sanders will serve as the Investigations Bureau Commander, overseeing the detective division, drug task force, school resource officers, and certain staff positions. He joined WPD in 2005 and recently served as Special Operations Commander.

Three officers are serving in a new role within the department. They include: 

Lt. Russell Campbell, Jr. will now serve as Special Operations Commander. Lt. Campbell recently oversaw a patrol shift and has been with WPD for 18 years. The Special Operations Commander oversees all special events, traffic unit, field training and highway safety. 

Sgt. Andrew Adams now leads the Office of Professional Standards and Sgt. Doug Somerville is now the department’s training and fleet manager. Both recently were patrol shift supervisors.