The new commissioner of the state Department of Public Safety Thursday announced personnel changes that included a change of leadership for the Iowa State Patrol.

Brian London, Gov. Terry Branstad’s recent pick as DPS leader, said he was reassigning Col. Patrick Hoye to become head of the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau and elevating Dave Garrison to the role of colonel of the state patrol.

In choosing Garrison, a 23-year DPS veteran, London cited the colonel’s lengthy experience in the field, serving as a road trooper in southwest Iowa and later as a trooper Pilot in Des Moines. In 1998, Garrison was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and served as the department’s public information officer. Two years later he was promoted to lieutenant and has served in a variety of leadership roles that included stints with the patrol’s vehicle theft unit, the governor’s security detail, district commander for the Capitol Complex and most recently in the department’s Professional Standards Bureau.

In reassigning Hoye, London said the change will allow the department to “leverage Hoye’s leadership to fill a void that has existed” in the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, according to a DPS news released issue Thursday night. As ISP head, Hoye was instrumental in reducing traffic fatalities and narrowed the patrol’s focus on drunk driving, the DPS statement said, adding that  Hoye has demonstrated an ability to build relationships with local agencies through his passion for traffic safety and vigorous enforcement that “will serve him well in the new position.”

Also Thursday, London announced adjustments to the department’s organizational structure, including the appointments of Chari Paulson as director of the Division of Criminal Investigation, Ray Reynolds as director of the State Fire Marshal Division, Steven DeJoode as director of the Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and James Saunders as director of the Division of Intelligence/Fusion Center.

“This new organizational structure will allow each component of the department to focus on their respective missions while at the same time create a more efficient structure to provide public safety services to the citizens of Iowa,” London said in his statement.

“Organizations evolve and change over time,” the DPS commissioner added. “It is my goal to ensure any change made at DPS is executed with the best interests of the citizens of Iowa as the central motivating factor. I know these changes meet this criterion.”