SILVA

Anthony J. Silva, the director of the Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy and former Cumberland police chief, has been chosen to head the state Division of Motor Vehicles.

Silva’s hiring continues a long line of law enforcement chiefs who’ve run the DMV since a reorganization of the agency about 25 years ago. His new title will be associate director of state revenue services as the DMV moves from under the Department of Administration to the Department of Revenue.

“Anthony Silva has the background necessary to take charge of this division and coordinate all the diverse elements involved,” Gary S. Sasse, the new director of the Department of Revenue, said in a statement yesterday.

At 51, Silva has 28 years of experience in law enforcement, including 10 as chief in Cumberland and 24 years in law enforcement education. He has a master’s degree in administration of justice from Salve Regina University and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bryant College.

He has been director of the state training academy for two years, where he was paid about $72,500. His new position will pay $97,266 and require him to oversee about 180 employees in the DMV — nearly triple the number of staff he managed at the Cumberland Police Department. He’ll begin his new job on Feb. 25, but says he expects to begin the transition sooner. “I think people know me as a very fair person, a very diligent worker,” said Silva, who lives in Cumberland. “I like accomplishment.”

Silva said he appreciates the DMV’s special role in state government — making it often the first state agency that residents use. With that in mind, Silva said he plans to expand one of the functions that the previous DMV leader Charles “Ted” Dolan began: using the Internet more to help reduce long lines at the Registry’s branches.

Dolan retired last month after seven years as head of the DMV after a lengthy law enforcement career as a Pawtucket police captain, an inspector general for the Department of Transportation and chief investigator at the Registry. Dolan had succeeded Thomas Harrington, a former Cranston police chief who served as deputy director for 14 years. Before Harrington, the DMV was headed by retired state police Capt. Edward D. Pare.

amilkovi@projo.com