A captain in the Falls Church Police Department has been elevated to acting police chief as the city prepares to fill its second high-level vacancy this year.
Harry Reitze, 58, will take the temporary position on Dec. 1. He replaces retiring Police Chief Robert T. Murray, who announced his retirement earlier this month.
Reitze, who could not be reached for comment, joined the Falls Church Police Department in 1975 as a patrol officer and worked his way to captain in 1998, according to a press release.
He previously worked for the FBI.
The shakeup in the leadership of the city’s small police department follows the death of City Manager Daniel E. McKeever, who succumbed to melanoma in July. The City Council is now in the first stages of planning for finding a full-time city manager. Assistant City Manager Wyatt Shields has stepped in as a temporary replacement.
Plans tofind a full-time police chief are even more preliminary.
“The parameters for that haven’t been established yet,” said Fall Church spokeswoman Hyun June Lee.
Murray, a former Fairfax County patrol officer who became chief in 1994, is credited with expanding the city department’s diversity, strengthening emergency management and encouraging promotions within the agency.
The city has not offered an explanation for the 59-year-old chief’s departure.
