Stacy Kelly

Stacy Kelly, who served as the assistant police chief for the Newport News Police Department in Virginia, will become Astoria’s next police chief.

Kelly, who has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement, is expected to begin on July 1.

“We are looking forward to having Stacy join the team and be part of the Astoria community,” City Manager Brett Estes said in a statement.

Former Police Chief Geoff Spalding retired from the post in April after leading the department since 2017. He moved into a part-time role focusing on issues such as homelessness and community livability.

Deputy Chief Eric Halverson has served as the police department’s interim chief.

The city completed a recruitment process earlier this year for a new police chief but did not select a candidate. Estes said none of the candidates were the right fit for Astoria.

The city reopened the job posting and Kelly applied and was selected in the second round.

Over the course of his career with the Newport News Police Department, Kelly served in various leadership positions in the special operations division, emergency communications division, administrative bureau and patrol bureau. He is credited with creating the Newport News Police and Communications Training Academy.

Kelly also attended the FBI National Academy and the Police Executive Research Forum Senior Management Institute for Police.

He has spent the past five years working at Axon Enterprise, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based company that develops technology and weapons products. At Axon, he has spent time traveling to law enforcement agencies across the country in the implementation and training of TASERs and body camera systems.