Command Staff

Heston Silbert was appointed Deputy Director of the Department of Public Safety in February 2015. Deputy Director Silbert retired from the Phoenix Police Department with 22-years of service. After his retirement from the Phoenix Police Department, he was hired as a Commander by the Mesa Police Department, where he assumed command of the Red Mountain Division. In May of 2011, he was promoted to Assistant Chief of Police for the Operations Bureau, and in 2013 he was promoted to Executive Officer.

Deputy Director Silbert began his career as a patrol officer in South Phoenix at the South Mountain Precinct. After working in a patrol capacity he was transferred to work on a proactive enforcement squad that conducted gang and drug investigations. During this assignment, Deputy Director Silbert also worked in an undercover capacity.

Deputy Director Silbert continued his career working street gangs, but also mentoring at risk youth in the Foothills Housing Projects of South Phoenix, where he was a PAL officer. After this assignment, he continued to investigate street gangs as a detective on the Night Gang Enforcement Unit in the Organized Crime Bureau. Deputy Director Silbert was also a member of the FBI Violent Street Gang Task Force where he and members of the unit conducted wire-tap and conspiracy investigations.

After his assignment in the Gang Unit and the FBI Violent Street Gang Task Force, he was selected to be a member of the Special Assignments Unit (SAU/SWAT). After several years with SAU, Deputy Director Silbert was promoted to sergeant where he worked at both the Squaw Peak Precinct and again in South Phoenix at the South Mountain Precinct. During these years he was selected as Supervisor of the Year and Police Officer of the Year. After his assignment as a Field Training Sergeant in South Phoenix, he was promoted to lieutenant.

As a lieutenant he served in Patrol, Systems Integration, the Vehicular Crimes Unit, the Special Assignments Unit, the Police Academy, and as Unit Commander of the Major Offender Bureau’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit and Career Criminal Squad. Deputy Director Silbert holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. He also holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Arizona State University. He is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command, the FBI National Academy and is also a graduate of the Police Executive Leadership Institute.

Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Hunter was appointed Deputy Director in March 2020. Prior to that, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Hunter was appointed Assistant Director (Lieutenant Colonel) in April of 2015. Lieutenant Colonel Hunter was the Assistant Director of the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigations Division, and commands the Intelligence, Investigations, Gang Enforcement and Border Strike Force Bureaus.

Lt. Colonel Hunter began his career as a trooper with the Arizona Department of Public Safety in September of 1989 and was assigned to the Highway Patrol Division in Winslow, Arizona. As a trooper he completed assignments in motors, commercial vehicle enforcement and as a detective assigned to gang enforcement.

Lt. Colonel Hunter promoted to sergeant and was assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division. He supervised a gang enforcement squad in southern Arizona responsible for documenting and investigating criminal street gangs and transnational criminal organizations. Additionally, he held supervisory assignments at the Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy and the Internal Affairs Unit.

After promoting to captain, he was assigned to the Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area where he facilitated, supported and enhanced collaborative drug control efforts among law enforcement agencies. He also held command assignments in the Southern Gang Enforcement District, the Southern Commercial Vehicle District, and Canine District.

Lt. Colonel Hunter holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Safety Administration from Grand Canyon University. He is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command and the Leadership in Police Organizations Command program.

In April of 2015, DPS Director Frank Milstead promoted Danny Lugo from the rank of Major to Lt. Colonel and assigned him as Assistant Director of the Highway Patrol Division. On August 5th, 2017 Lt. Col. Lugo was appointed to the Assistant Director position over the Criminal Investigations Division, a division he has served for approximately twenty-two of his thirty-one-year career. In March 2019, Lt. Col. Lugo was appointed to the Assistant Director position in the Agency Support Division, where he serves currently.

During his thirty-one years as an Arizona State Trooper, he has held a variety of positions in the Highway Patrol Division and the Criminal Investigations Division throughout the state. Lt. Colonel Lugo has spent approximately twenty-two-years of his career in the Criminal Investigations Division serving in several multi-agency task forces. Prior to his promotion, he served as the Investigations Bureau Commander over statewide Narcotics Enforcement, Auto Theft Task Force, SWAT, and Homicide Investigations (Major Crimes Unit) at the rank of major. Lt. Colonel Lugo served for approximately three years as the full-time SWAT Commander and has approximately 17 years of total SWAT experience as a SWAT Operator, Assistant Team Leader, Team Leader and Commander.

He served three years as the Highway Patrol District Commander in Tucson and approximately one and one-half years as the State Gang Task Force Border District Commander, both at the rank of captain. Lt. Colonel Lugo was assigned to the State Gang Task Force on four separate occasions throughout his career and one year as a Border Intelligence Commander, at the rank of lieutenant. As a sergeant, he served a three-year assignment at the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC), which is a multi-agency intelligence fusion center.

His additional assignments in the Criminal Investigations Division as a sergeant were in the areas of Financial Investigations, Administrative Sergeant, Intelligence Supervisor, Undercover Narcotics Detective and Supervisor, Major Offenders Unit Detective and Supervisor, Meth Lab Task Force Supervisor, State Gang Task Force Supervisor (as well as a Detective), and SWAT Team Leader.

Lt. Colonel Lugo attended the Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy, the Pima County Corrections Officer Basic Academy, and honorably served four years in the United States Marine Corps with assignments in Japan, South Korea, and California. He is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command and the West Point Leadership in Police Organizations (LPO) Command program. In March of 2016, he graduated from the FBI National Academy Session #263 in Quantico, Virginia. Lt. Colonel Lugo has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Organizational Leadership.

Lt. Colonel Lugo was instrumental in starting the Tucson Chapter of the Latino Peace Officers Association (LPOA) and served as Tucson Chapter President for two years. He is also a Lifetime Member of the LPOA. He is a proud member of the Arizona State Troopers Association (ASTA), State Troopers Coalition, International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police (AACOP), National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 32.

In July 2019, Jenna Mitchell was appointed to Assistant Director (Lieutenant Colonel) assigned to the Highway Patrol Division of the Department of Public Safety. The Highway Patrol Division provides law enforcement services throughout the state, assuring the safety and efficiency of the highway transportation system, in addition to providing support to local and county law enforcement agencies. The Highway Patrol Division also provides services and enforcement for commercial motor vehicles, tow trucks, student transportation, and safety programs.

Lt. Colonel Mitchell began her career as an officer trainee in July of 1993. She attended the Phoenix Regional Police Academy and became a trooper in May of 1995. Her first assignment was to the Highway Patrol in District Six, Casa Grande. During this assignment she served as a field training officer, general instructor, phlebotomist, reserve coordinator, and she also coordinated the first Citizen Academy in District Six.

While assigned as a trooper in District Six, she was recognized as the District Six and Southern Highway Patrol Bureau Officer of the Year in 2000. She promoted to sergeant in 2001, and remained in the Highway Patrol in District Six, Casa Grande.

She promoted to captain in March of 2006; she was assigned to the Management Services Bureau where she was responsible for the Research and Planning Section, the Safety and Loss Unit, and the Public Records Section. She also held command assignments in the Highway Patrol Metro East District, Southern Gang Enforcement District, and the Canine District.

Lt. Colonel Mitchell was recognized in 2011 as the Criminal Investigations Division Commander of the Year and was the recipient of the Director’s Unit Citation for her role in the development of the Advanced Criminal Interdiction Training Program.

Lt. Colonel Mitchell promoted to the rank of major in May of 2015 and has served as the chief of staff for the Criminal Investigations Division, as well as the Agency Support Division. As chief of staff, she was involved with the implementation of major technological improvements in both divisions, with a strong focus on performance management, efficiency, and employee and leadership development.

Lt. Colonel Mitchell holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Arizona State University. She is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command and the Leadership in Police Organizations Command program.

In June 2012, Timothy Chung was promoted from the rank of Major to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed as the Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigations Division. In July 2015, Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead appointed Lt. Colonel Chung as the Assistant Director of the Technical Services Division.

Lt. Colonel Chung began his law enforcement career at the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office in Parker, Arizona, in June 1986, where he held the positions of jailer, dispatcher, patrol deputy, investigator, and sergeant.

In December 1991, Lt. Colonel Chung joined the ranks of DPS and has held various assignments in each of the Department’s operational and support divisions. As an officer, his first assignment was patrolling the Quartzsite/Parker area. In 1994, he relocated to Phoenix and held assignments in the Vehicle Theft Investigations Unit and the Special Investigations Unit.

In 1998, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and was assigned to the Highway Patrol Division’s District Eight, in Nogales, Arizona, until he transferred back to Phoenix to oversee the Special Investigations Unit in 2000. In 2002, Lt. Colonel Chung was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and led the Major Crimes Investigation District. He transferred to an administrative staff position in the Criminal Justice Support Division, currently the Technical Services Division, in 2005. In 2007, he was responsible for forming the Immigration Enforcement District and led the multi-agency Illegal Immigration Prevention and Apprehension Co-op Teams (IIMPACT) and Arizona Fraudulent Identification Task Force.

In 2008, Lt. Colonel Chung was promoted to the rank of Major overseeing the Gang Enforcement Bureau which comprised the statewide multi-agency Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GIITEM). He served as Chief of Staff/Executive Officer for the Technical Services Division from 2009 to 2011. From 2011 until his promotion to Lt. Colonel, he worked within the Director’s Office overseeing the Management Services Bureau.

Lt. Colonel Chung has had many accomplishments, received numerous awards, and served on numerous work groups at the Department. He earned his Certified Public Manager national certification from Arizona State University and is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command, the International Association of Chiefs of Police Leadership in Police Organizations, and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government. He holds an Associate in Applied Science Degree in Law Enforcement Technology, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Education, majoring in Human Services, and a Masters Degree in Public Administration, specializing in Government Administration.

Lt. Colonel Chung’s additional duties and responsibilities include:

Governor-appointed member of the Arizona Department of Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council-Central Region since August 2012;

• Governor-appointed state representative on the SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, Membership Group since June 2015;
• CJIS Systems Officer and member of the CJIS Western Working Group since June 2015;
• Arizona’s representative for the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (Nlets) since June 2015; and
• Governor-appointed First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) since October 2015.