Office of the Chief

View the Police Department biographies online.

Jeffrey Dodson, Chief of Police  

Jeff Dodson is the Chief of Police for the Radford City Police Department. Dodson started with the Radford City Police Department in January 2020. As the Chief of Police in Radford, Jeff oversees police operations, 911 communications and animal control.

Prior to coming to Radford, Chief Dodson grew up in Culpeper, Virginia. Chief started his career in Culpeper area law enforcement. Chief Dodson spent time with both the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office and Culpeper Police Department. At the Sheriff’s Office, Dodson worked in the jail and court security divisions. Chief Dodson was also a hostage negotiator with the Sheriff’s Office.  Dodson was then hired at the Culpeper Police Department.  Dodson held a wide variety of assignments during his career at the Culpeper Police Department including K-9, Detective Sergeant, ICAC investigator, Crash Reconstruction team, and various accreditation duties. Chief Dodson has supervised patrol, investigation, administration, and street crimes functions at Culpeper PD. In Culpeper, Dodson served on the Culpeper Human Services Board, United Way Impact committee, and was very involved within his community.

Chief Dodson strongly believes in collaboration with community partners and the principles of 21st Century Policing. Since coming to Radford, Chief Dodson has pushed for enhancing community policing initiatives and working with community stakeholders to improve public safety in the City of Radford.  Chief Dodson has helped to increase technology, training, and various equipment within the department since coming to Radford in 2020. Chief Dodson holds a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Saint Leo University, a Bachelors degree in Management from Bluefield College, is a graduate of the University of Richmond’s Professional Executive Leadership School (PELS)-39th session, a graduate of the FBI’s National Command Course (NCC)-Session 1, and the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute in Policing (SMIP)-85th Session. In addition to his law enforcement career, Chief Dodson worked part-time as a 911 dispatcher with the Orange County E-911 Center for 7 years.

Chief Dodson serves on a wide variety of boards and committees.  Chief Dodson is the treasurer for the Radford Youth Adult Partnership (RYAP), Cardinal Criminal Justice Training Academy executive board, Women's Resource Center Executive Board,  Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Board,  Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police Alarm Management committee, and International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Crime Prevention committee.   Chief Dodson chairs the new Law Enforcement Executive Certification Program committee with the Virginia Association of Chief's of Police.   In 2022, Chief Dodson was appointed by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to the state 911 Services Board.  Chief Dodson serves as the President for the regional Blue Ridge Chief's Association.   Dodson is a member of the VACP, IACP, FBI-LEEDA, Montgomery-Radford-Floyd NAACP, and New River Valley Fraternal Order of Police. Additionally, Chief Dodson  has worked part-time as a Assessor Team Leader for the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) since 2017.