Nearly 20 years into his Richmond Police Department career, Major Austin Lipps now serves as an assistant chief.
Lipps, who joined the department in November 2006, was appointed to assume the duties formerly performed by Adam Blanton, who resigned from the department. He will lead the department’s day-to-day operations.
“Throughout his career, Major Lipps has demonstrated strong leadership, professionalism and a commitment to the Richmond Police Department,” Weatherly wrote in an email confirming the promotion. “As he transitions into his new role, I am confident he will be a valuable asset to the department’s administration and will continue to serve both our officers and the community well. We are excited to see him take on these new responsibilities and look forward to the impact he will have in this position.”
A Marine veteran, Lipps served as a K-9 officer with his partner, Leo, for seven years until Leo retired at the beginning of 2019. As a patrol supervisor, Lipps was named RPD’s Supervisor of the Year for 2020, and he received a departmental lifesaving award in August 2020 for being among three RPD officers who helped save a person trying to jump off a city bridge.
Lipps has also led the SWAT team, supervised school resource officers at Richmond High School and since November commanded the patrol division. He was promoted to captain, the highest merit rank, in March.
“I hope I can do right by the community and the department,” Lipps said.
WWN received a letter June 8 from Kimberly Vessels, the assistant city attorney, indicating that as of May 29 Blanton is no longer employed by RPD or the city. The letter was in response to WWN’s May 5 emailed question to Mayor Ron Oler inquiring about Blanton’s employment status. Oler forwarded the email to the city’s law department as a public records request.
WWN sent the email the day after Oler refused to answer Richmond Common Council President Justin Burkhardt’s question about Blanton’s employment during a council meeting. Oler cited privacy concerns as his reason for not answering in a public meeting.
Also on June 8, RPD announced that Officer Adam Jones was selected the department’s Officer of the Quarter.
The announcement said Jones “consistently demonstrated professionalism, dedication and an unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the citizens of our community.”
A version of this article appeared in the June 17 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
