Former Buena Vista Police Chief Anthony “AJ” Panebianco will be leading the Lexington Police Department as its interim chief for the next several months as the city searches for a new full-time chief.
Panebianco, who begins work on Monday, brings more than 35 years of law enforcement experience to the role, including more than 20 years with the Buena Vista Police Department. He grew up in Covington and worked for the Department of Corrections in Criagsville and as a dispatcher for the Covington Police Department before joining the BVPD in 1988. In 2007, he was named acting chief of the department after Lewis Plogger retired and was subsequently appointed interim chief and then chief of the department in March 2008. He served in that role until June of 2010, when he resigned. At the time, he noted that the resignation was the “culmination of two years of difficulties between him and one member of Buena Vista City Council,” but declined to say which member. City officials declined to comment on the matter at the time due to it being a personnel issue.
After leaving Buena Vista, Panebianco served stints as interim chiefs in other departments in the Commonwealth before becoming the Chief of Police in Middleburg, Va. in 2013, where he served until his retirement in 2023. In the years since, he has provided law enforcement consulting services to police departments, including staffing studies, organizational assessments and leadership development and has served as interim chief for other localities in Virginia.
“Chief Panebianco’s charge is to provide stability, leadership, and professional development for the LPD,” Lexington City Manager Tom Carroll said in a press release on Friday. “We could not find a more capable law enforcement professional to help us over the next few months.”
The city will begin the process of looking for a new full-time Chief of Police with a pair of listening sessions, one on Aug. 14 and the other on Aug. 18. Both will be held in the police department conference room and will last from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. Residents, visitors, business owners and other interested people are invited to attend. The meetings are being held “so people can advise the City Manager on the process the city should follow as it begins this important recruitment,” according to a separate press release sent out on Friday. They will be open-house style, allowing for people to come and go throughout the duration of the meeting.
The city plans to begin the recruitment of a full-time Chief of Police before Labor Day with the goal of having the next chief “selected and on board” before the end of the year. Additional listening sessions with opportunities for the public to give feedback on the qualities and attributes they would like to see in the next chief of police.
