ALEA Appoints Ozark Native Charles Ward Acting Director of the Department of Public Safety

ALEA Appoints Ozark Native Charles Ward Acting Director of the Department of Public Safety

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) announced today, Nov. 2, Ozark native Charles Ward has been appointed Acting Director of the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

ALEA’s DPS Bureau comprises three divisions: Motor Carrier Safety, Marine Patrol and Highway Patrol, the last of which makes up the bulk of Director Ward’s stellar career. In fact, since his February 1985 graduation from the Alabama State Trooper Academy, he has been assigned several times to the Highway Patrol’s Dothan Post.

“The trust Secretary of Law Enforcement Stan Stabler has placed in me is a distinct honor, and I am eager and committed to do my part to further this agency’s goals in serving the citizens of Alabama.   And while my title may have changed, I haven’t! I want people in the Ozark area to know I am still Charles or Charlie – or Junior (to those at the fire station),” said Director Ward, who in 1980 was voted Carroll High School’s Good Citizenship Boy and Most Dependable.

Director Ward’s first taste of public service came as a teenager. While sitting on a sidewalk rolling copies of the Dothan Eagle for his paper route, the 14-year-old watched with interest the activities at the fire station across the street. Gradually, he made friends with those firefighters, and they took the teen under their wing. Upon high school graduation, the Ozark Police Department hired him as a dispatcher, but he remained close to those at Ozark Fire Department.

In addition, Director Ward became a certified emergency medical technician. And it was at the scene of a traffic crash that he got his first glimpse of just how far he could go as a public servant. That day, he said a patrol car pulled up and a Trooper stepped out. 

“He was black,” Director Ward said, smiling. “That was the day I said, ‘I want to do that. I can do that.’”

He never looked back. He set out to become a Trooper, and he achieved it and has remained dedicated to public service, which is key. “I am here to help! If I can’t help you, I will find somebody who can,” he said. “And I look forward to continuing to serve this city, this area, this state in a way that honors all of us.”

Director Ward served for 10 years in Highway Patrol in Coffee and Dale counties, and for a number of years at the Dothan Post. During his time there, he was recognized for leading the Dothan Post in DUI arrests in 1986 and was named the Dothan Optimists Club’s Trooper of the Year for 1987. 

He is married to Salina Michele Gilmore Ward, and they have two sons and six grandchildren. His mother, Nellie Trailer, and his brother and sister also live in the Ozark area.