Lt. Col. Timothy Chung

Criminal Investigations Division

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. Col. Chung as the Assistant Director of the Technical Services Division. On July 2nd, 2022, Lt. Col. Chung was appointed to the Assistant Director position of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Task Force, by Department of Public Safety Director Heston Silbert. In June of 2023, Col. Jeffrey D. Glover appointed Lt. Col. Chung to the Assistant Director position of the Criminal Investigations Division where he serves currently.

Lt. Col. 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. Col. 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. Col. 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. Col. 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 Lieutenant Colonel, he worked within the Director’s Office overseeing the Management Services Bureau.

Lt. Col. 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.