Joseph I. Ciccarelli served as the city of Huntington’s police chief from September 2014 until Monday when he died of a long-term illness. Ciccarelli formerly served as a Community Service Officer, an EMT and in the FBI’s Northeast Region Child Abduction Rapid Response Team, among other positions.

Ciccarelli dedicated his life and work to making the city of Huntington a safer, happier place, and his leadership and friendly demeanor is fondly remembered amongst his colleagues. As chief of police, he often worked alongside Jan Rader, the city of Huntington’s fire chief.

“He was a true gentleman and a true servant,” Rader said. “He was always thinking of others. If we had a bad fire in Huntington, he would show up, he would come to me and he would immediately ask me, ‘What can I do for you?’”

As police chief, Ciccarelli worked alongside many other city officials in Huntington. He made an impact on the city through both his work ethic and his approach to his position as chief of police.

“I think he viewed himself as a police officer first and a police chief second,” Huntington’s Director of Communications Bryan Chambers said. “If there was ever any assignment or task in the police department, it was never below him.”

Chambers recalled a time when he was on a date and he saw Ciccarelli and his girlfriend.

“He said, ‘I just got a call, we’re going down to see a bad accident,’” Chambers said. “And I looked at his girlfriend and I said, ‘Do you do this a lot?’ and she said, ‘Oh yea.’ That’s just the kind of man he was.”

Williams named Captain Hank Dial as Huntington’s interim chief of police in Ciccarelli’s place. Williams has 120 days to assign a permanent replacement, according to the city charter.

“Joe Ciccarelli spent a lifetime in law enforcement leadership with an emphasis on Huntington,” Dial said. “He had a positive leadership style. He was very effective, he was very driven, but he was pleasant to be around at the same time.”

Ciccarelli received several notable awards throughout his career, including the 2016 Excellence in Victim Advocacy, the U.S. Attorney’s Career Achievement Award and he is a six-time recipient of the U.S. Attorney’s Outstanding Law Officer Enforcement Award.

Zach Stevens can be contacted at [email protected].