UTICA — Not since 1984 had there been a change in the position of police chief for the Village of Utica. Bob Curtis officially retired on March 31, bringing an end to his 36-year years of service on the local police force. Appointed to take over his position is Utica police officer Cliff Bigler.
Bigler is no stranger to the Utica area. He graduated from Northridge High School in 1987 and received his training at Central Ohio Police Officers Training Academy in Reynoldsburg.
Bigler came to the Utica PD in 1995 as a part-time patrolman and was moved to full-time in 1999, where he was later promoted to sergeant. He served as an auxiliary sergeant at the Whitehall PD from 2003-06, then moving on to the village of Frazeysburg where he served as chief. Bigler then returned to Utica part-time in 2007 and served as school resource officer in 2009 before being recently appointed chief by Utica Mayor Lester Grennell.
“I want to help build the department and keep building it as Chief Curtis has done,” said Bigler about his plans as new police chief. “There may be a few different changes made, but I just want to establish a good department that the village can be proud of and count on.”
