Chief Joe Sullivan is a veteran of more than 30 years with the Philadelphia Police Department. He held the rank of deputy commissioner and commanded a force of 4,698 sworn and professional staff. His responsibilities included leading the COMSTAT process, the strategic implementation of the department's data driven, and intelligence based PINPOINT and Violent Crime Reduction (VCR) anti-gun strategies, overseeing community relations, serving as the department's liaison to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Jewish Federation, the LGBTQ community, and the Resilience Project, the Mayor's task force assembled to respond to the opioid crisis.
Prior to his promotion to deputy commissioner, he commanded the department's homeland security bureau, where Sullivan served as the incident commander at all major incidents involving homeland security and/or requiring tactical intervention and performed as the department's subject matter expert at all major demonstrations and protests. Sullivan also oversaw the training bureau, the narcotics division, and held numerous commands and supervisory positions within patrol and SWAT.
Sullivan holds a B.A. from Penn State University in the Administration of Justice and an M.A. in Public Safety from St. Joseph's University, is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, and has lectured as an adjunct professor at several colleges in the Philadelphia area. He also served as the Department's representative to the Mayor's World Meeting of Families Executive Planning Committee, which required him to travel to Rome to work closely with Papal Security in the formation of the security plans utilized for the visit of the Pope to Philadelphia.
Sullivan represented the City of Philadelphia and the police department in executing all tactical operations and overseeing all demonstrations during the Democratic National Convention and was designated as the incident commander for the footprint of the NFL Draft. Sullivan also serves as the president of Families Behind the Badge Children's Foundation which supports the children of fallen first responders and all children in need in the Philadelphia region and South Jersey.
