Vicky M. Peltzer Stormo started her law enforcement career in 1979. She currently serves as the Chief of Police at the University of Washington in Seattle, a fully accredited law enforcement agency. The 52 commissioned officers of the University of Washington Police Department oversee 640 acres with a service population of 62,000 people. The University of Washington police are faced with many challenges including activism in the Northwest that has led to the WTO riots and arson of the Urban Horticulture Center, dignitary protection, managing football games with 74,000 screaming Husky fans, a top ten Medical Center and Health Sciences department, and a major research institution.

Chief Stormo has served as the Chief at the University of Washington since August of 1999. She retired from the Albuquerque Police Department at the rank of lieutenant to take the chief's job in Seattle. While in Albuquerque, she worked in many facets of the department, including patrol, detectives, civil litigation, operations review, watch commander, communications center commander, and recruiting and selection. She was credited with increasing the number of women applicants from 8% to 25% while serving as the Recruitment and Selection commander and has spoken nationally about the strategy used to attract women along with the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Sciences (IWITTS). In her law enforcement career, she was the Officer of the Month in her rookie year, was featured on Paul Harvey for solving a series of armed robberies utilizing computers when it was new to law enforcement, and has received the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women Trailblazer award and the YWCA Woman on the Move award.

Chief Stormo has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology from the University of Albuquerque and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of New Mexico. She was a state certified instructor in New Mexico and served as a subject matter expert for assessment centers. Chief Stormo and the University of Washington Police Department hosted the 7th annual NAWLEE conference in Seattle. 

Vicky M. Peltzer Stormo
Chief of Police
University of Washington Police Department