Gov. Dannel Malloy has appointed Dora B. Schriro, commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, as commissioner of the State Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
Schriro, who was appointed in 2009 by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, will be the first woman to head the state’s public safety operations.
She replaces Reuben F. Bradford, who announced his retirement late last month.
Prior to her appointment in New York, Schriro worked on overhauling the country’s immigration detention system as special advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on immigration and customs enforcement and detention and removal. She was the founding director of the Office of Detention Policy and Planning for that department.
Schriro also previously worked for six years as director of the Arizona Department of Corrections and for eight years as director of the Missouri Department of Corrections.
The agency she will now oversee includes the Division of State Police; the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security; the Division of Statewide Emergency Telecommunications; the Division of Scientific Services; the Division of Police Officer Standards and Training Council; and the Commission on Fire Prevention and Control.
