The Village of Dupo on May 17 appointed Dennis Plew as its new police chief following the resignation of Kevin Smith.

Plew, a former Dupo police officer, most recently served as a captain with the Cahokia Police Department.

“Great guy and will take the town to the next level with public safety,” Dupo Mayor Jerald Wilson said of the new chief. “Public safety will always be No. 1 for us. I wish Kevin the best in whatever he does from here.”

Plew, 61, was born and raised in Dupo, and started his law enforcement career in Dupo as a full-time officer in 1987 after graduating from Lindenwood University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

He went to the Cahokia Police Department in 1991, and then to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Police Department in 1996 before returning to Cahokia in 2002.

“I retired from the Cahokia Police Department as the deputy chief right before the merger to Cahokia Heights in April of this year,” Plew said.

Plew served with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis for 23 years and was its deputy commander for seven years.

He also served as operations commander with the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System Region 8 Mobile Field Force and helped form that unit at its inception.

Plew is married with four children.

“I plan to bring modernization to the Dupo Police Department within its means,” he said. “I will bridge gaps and form relationships with other departments from the local level to the federal level.”

Areas of emphasis for Plew will be diversity and building community relations.

“I am just one person; it will take the input and hard work of the officers and the cooperation of the community to be successful,” Plew stressed. “I look forward to working again in the community where I was raised.”