Office of the Deputy Chief

Lieutenant Colonel M. G. Solesky

Deputy Chief

Lieutenant Colonel Mark G. Solesky is the Deputy Chief of Police responsible for providing leadership and oversight for the Department's three Bureaus (Investigations Bureau, Patrol Operations Bureau, and Support Bureau) as well as the Special Operations Section and the Standards and Research Unit.

The Investigations Bureau includes: the Criminal Investigations Section, Vice and Narcotics Section, the Criminal Intelligence Unit, and the Forensics Unit.

The Support Bureau includes: the Records Management Unit, the Emergency Dispatch Center, the Professional Standards Section, and the Law Enforcement Training Academy.

The Patrol Operations Bureau includes: all five Police Precincts, the Crime Prevention Unit, the Police Chaplain Unit, the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT), the Underwater Search and Recovery Team, the Marine Patrol Unit, and the Police Explorers.

The Special Operations Section includes: the Traffic Enforcement Unit, the K-9 Unit, the Warrant Unit, the Selective Enforcement Unit, the Auxiliary Police Unit, and Animal Control.

The Standards and Research Unit includes: Internal Inspections, Policy Development and the Accreditation team which manages and maintains the files and assorted documentation required for the national accreditation process through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

The main focus of the police department is to partner with citizens and other City Departments to identify, prioritize, and solve contemporary problems such as crime, fear of crime, illegal drugs, and neighborhood decay, with the goal of improving the overall quality of life in Chesapeake.

Deputy Chief Solesky’s academic achievements include a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology from Saint Leo University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Old Dominion University. He joined the Chesapeake Police Department in 1986 and progressed through the ranks, serving in all of the Department’s Bureaus. He was appointed to the rank of Deputy Chief in 2008.