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Sheryl Victorian is a native Texan and 30-year law enforcement professional. She was sworn in as the City of Waco’s first female and African American Chief of Police on March 15, 2021, after serving with the Houston Police Department for almost 28 years. Chief Victorian retired from the Houston Police Department as an Assistant Chief of the Patrol Region 2 Command, where she was responsible for the Clear Lake, Southeast, South Central, Eastside, and Downtown Patrol Divisions, as well as the Vehicular Crimes Division. Her law enforcement experience includes assignments in the Major Offenders, Homicide, Special Victims, Internal Affairs, Training, and the South Central and Southeast Patrol, Divisions. As the City of Waco Police Chief, Chief Victorian is responsible for providing command leadership and training within the Waco Police Department, ensuring departmental compliance with state and federal laws, as well as City policies, procedures, and guidelines. Additionally, she is responsible for ensuring the effective management of law enforcement and community services programs to serve the citizens of Waco.
As the Waco Police Chief, Chief Victorian oversees the largest police department in Central Texas, with 24/7, 365 days a year responsibilities. Her agency has an authorized strength of 295 sworn police officers and just over 100 civilian support staff. Waco Police Department is also responsible for administering the largest general fund budget in the City.
Chief Victorian has earned many awards and commendations for her service and dedication as a police professional. She was recognized as the 100 Club of Houston’s first African American Female “Rookie Officer of the Year” in 1995 and earned a Life-Saving Award, an Award of Excellence, several Chief Unit Citations, and many Citizen and Chief of Police commendations. She was the 2021 recipient of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs’ National Sojourner Truth Meritorious Service Award.
Chief Victorian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Administration of Justice from Texas Southern University, a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Houston – Downtown, and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Administration of Justice from Texas Southern University. She is a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum’s (PERF) Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP), session #81, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy (FBINA), session #267, Discover Leadership Master Graduate of class #252, a current fellow of American Leadership Forum’s class XLVII (47), Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas’s (LEMIT) Leadership Inventory for Female Executives (LIFE) class #17, and a graduate of the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) Women’s Leadership Institute.
Chief Victorian has been an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) where she teaches Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice, Ethics, and the Graduate Capstone course for seven years, and taught Criminal Justice and Community Law Enforcement as an adjunct professor at Baylor University from January 2022 until May 2023.
She is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the Texas Police Chiefs Association (TPCA), the Central Texas Area Chief’s of Police and Sheriff’s Association (CTACPSA), the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE), and the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy Associates (FBINAA).
Chief Victorian serves as an Advisory Board Member for the McClennan County Law Enforcement Academy, Excellence in Policing & Public Safety – University of South Carolina – Columbia, Police Leadership Academy – University of Chicago, and the 100 Club Heart of Texas. She serves as an Executive Advisory Board member for the Caruth Police Institute – University of North Texas – Denton and is a member of the Texas Police Chiefs Association’s Women’s Law Enforcement Executive Committee.
Chief Victorian is the owner and founder of Leading on Purpose, LLC., which provides training, coaching, and curriculum development services to organizations seeking to improve the quality of leadership, both horizontally and vertically, internally, and externally. She is also the creator and co-designer of “Building Trust From Trauma,” a course designed in the Summer of 2020 to educate and inspire officers to learn about the trust-eroding events that negatively impact trust between communities of color and the police. Her reasons for developing and sharing the course are to reduce harm, build meaningful cooperative relationships between the police, the community, and community stakeholders, and learn from the past so that we are not condemned to repeat it.
Chief Victorian is passionate about Relational Policing and Relational Leadership and uses her influence to improve the profession of Policing. Chief Victorian developed a course, entitled, “Relational Policing – Relational Leadership: Using the Power of Connection to Build Trust,” which she teaches as a core course for LEMIT’s Leadership Command College (LCC). She was also selected to teach a course developed by the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), entitled Safer Together, contractually through the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR). Safer Together is a course that empowers police personnel, community members, and leaders to renew and strengthen relationships by making every contact count to elevate safety, wellness, and trust.
In her spare time, Chief Victorian is a playwright and enjoys traveling, mentoring, teaching, and spending time with her family and canine babies, Shelby, and Roxy.
Dr. Lindsey-Warren speaks nationally on the topics of multicultural marketing and communications, fundraising for arts organizations, effective communications and leadership. Her research streams are rooted in empowered storytelling, media and advertising, “health edu-tainment,” emotional contagion (Word-of-Mouth) and the business of Hollywood. Dr. Lindsey-Warren is a published Consumer Behavior Scholar with academic articles that have appeared in the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy, Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, the Journal of Academic Marketing Education, and in the book, “Entertainment Values,” published by Palgrave UK.
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Lindsey-Warren received her Bachelor of Science in Radio/TV/Film and a certificate in Musical Theater from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She also has a Masters of Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing, from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California and a PhD in Marketing from Rutgers University in New Jersey.
In her spare time, Dr. Lindsey-Warren sings jazz professionally and has opened for GRAMMY award-winning jazz musicians, Kirk Whalum, Jonathan Butler, and Pieces of a Dream, to name a few. Locally, she also serves on the Boards for Art Center Waco and the Waco Symphony Association, along with being an active member of the Waco Central (TX) Links Chapter, a Life Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and an active member of Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church.
Dr. Lindsey-Warren is married to Sidney Warren, a successful entrepreneur.