Chief spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety retires after 31 years with the agency

Sgt. Kevin Wood will retire from DPS effective Dec. 31. His last day as media relations supervisor and chief spokesman for the agency will be Thursday, Dec. 30.

Upon Wood’s departure, Bart Graves will assume the acting role of chief spokesman for DPS along with support from DPS Public Information Officer Robert Bailey.

Wood joined DPS in 1979 as a patrolman. In 1986, Wood was promoted to paramedic and transferred to Air Rescue based in Kingman. During this assignment, he flew numerous medical, search and rescue and public safety missions. After nine years as a paramedic, Wood transferred to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) where he conducted complex criminal and administrative investigations for the Department and external agencies. In 1999, he became a public information officer assigned to Media Relations. From 2000 until March of 2010, Wood has worked as a detective and supervisor with SIU and GIITEM (Gang Intelligence Immigration Enforcement Mission).

In March 2010, Wood was brought back to Media Relations as the supervisor of the unit and chief spokesman for the agency.

Graves has been the DPS Media Relations Coordinator for Sgt. Wood and previous supervisors of the unit since March of 2007. Previously he was Communications Director the Arizona Department of Corrections. Prior to state service, Graves was a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years, primarily in Arizona.