The Denver Sheriff’s Department today will swear in its first female division chief.
Major Marie Kielar is being promoted as the division chief over technology support and special projects.
In an interview, she credited the Sheriff Department’s administration for ensuring women as well as well as men had opportunities for growth.
“I didn’t really have a lot of obstacles,” she said. “I’ve worked with great leaders and coaches who saw our potential. They pushed and challenged us.”
Kielar already has been the agency’s official in charge of coordinating the implementation of the Justice Center project.
“I’ll be in charge of how do we move into it,” she said.
Kielar also will take charge of developing a strategy to handle mass arrests that may occur during the Democratic National Convention in August.
She will have overall command and oversight of the Sheriff Training Academy and the Homeland Security and Credentialing unit.
Kielar replaces former Division Chief Walter Smith, who had a 37-year tenure at the sheriff’s department.
Kielar first started working at the county jail in 1985.
She moved to court services in 1989, and then was promoted to a sergeant in 1995. She was promoted to captain in 2002 in charge of developing operations for the city jail.
In 2004, she was promoted to the position of major, where she dealt with technology support and special projects.
“The Denver Sheriff Department is both fortunate and proud to have an individual of Marie Kielar’s stature promoted to this position,” said Director of Corrections and Undersheriff Bill Lovingier in a prepared statement.
She will be sworn in at 1 p.m. at the sheriff’s department’s training academy, 5440 Rosyln St., Building 5.
Kielar is a Denver native who graduated from Lincoln High School. She has a degree in criminal justice, with a minor in psychology, from Metropolitan State College.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
