Karl Colder

Mayor Steve Williams appointed Karl Colder as chief of police for the Huntington Police Department on Nov. 1, 2021. He was the first Black police chief in the history of the department.

Colder has 32 years of career leadership and investigative experience with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He was special agent in charge for the DEA’s Washington, D.C., Field Division Office from February 2013 to May 2018. In this role, Colder directed all DEA operations throughout Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Prior to this assignment, Colder was deputy chief inspector for the DEA’s Headquarters Inspections Division, Office of Professional Responsibility, from April 2009 to February 2012. While in this position, Colder led all domestic and foreign administrative and criminal internal affairs program operations at the DEA.

After Colder retired from federal law enforcement, he served as president of Colder Allied Consulting, LLC. He provided professional, consulting and advisory services, with a specialization in program performance and information management support, to a variety of private companies.

Colder also was a teacher/instructor of the Monroe Advanced Technical Academy’s Administration of Justice sequence for Loudon County, Virginia Public Schools. He prepared students for entry-level employment in the law enforcement and criminal justice system as well as entrance into institutions of higher learning in the related fields of criminal justice, political science and law.

Colder served on the Seton Hall University External Advisory Board for the Police Graduate Studies Program and was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to serve on the Commonwealth of Virginia Secure and Resilient Homeland Security Panel.

Colder has bachelor’s degrees in social relations/criminal justice and political science from Cheyney State University and a master’s degree in human resources development and training from Seton Hall University.