Boys & Girls Club Blog

Dean Smith has been with the City of Oshkosh since January of 2016, when he was sworn in as the Department’s 22nd Police Chief. Dean has over 37 years of experience in law enforcement. He spent 26 years in Suffolk, Virginia, where he retired as Deputy Chief of Police prior to coming to Oshkosh.

Dean has made it a priority to build support for his officers through peer support and mental health resiliency. Developing programming to assist both his employees as well as residents of the City of Oshkosh. He has also worked to build partnerships with both the residential and business community. Focusing on solving problems at the local level.Since coming to Oshkosh, Dean has supported the Boys and Girls Club by providing staff for various initiatives to foster positive relationships with teens and law enforcement and by volunteering his own time through programming during the holidays as well as evaluating those club members who are running for Club Kid of the year. Dean has also implemented programming within the city to help bridge the gap between the homeless population and the business owners in the downtown area.

He holds both Associate and Bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and law enforcement administration from Herzing University and is a graduate of the University of Richmond’s Professional Executive Leadership School as well as a graduate of the FBI National Academy, 209th session.