On Monday, April 23, Anthony J. ("AJ") Panebianco will become Middleburg's third Chief of Police in less than a year. He succeeds the town's current Chief, Bill Klugh, hired in June 2011, and Klugh's predecessor, Steve Webber, who announced his decision to retire at age 52 in March of the same year.

The town received more than twenty-five applications for the position after Chief Klugh discovered that the provisions of his retirement package from Fairfax City made keeping his new job in Middleburg financially unwise.

Panebianco is currently serving as Chief of Police in the Town of Louisa, the county seat, just east of Charlottesville, formerly known as Louisa Court House.

In Louisa, Panebianco commands a Middleburg-sized force of four officers in a growing town of more than 1,499 people. Louisa is the home of the North Anna Nuclear Generating station and Virginia's oldest commune, the Twin Oaks Community, founded in 1967.

A major factor in his selection, according to the town of Middleburg, was his "22-year career serving small communities in Virginia, . . . ."

According to the Town of Louisa, Panebianco began his law enforcement career in 1986, serving with the City of Covington police force as a dispatcher and then with the Virginia Department of Corrections. At 21 he joined the Buena Vista Police Department as a patrolman. There he was promoted steadily, first to sergeant, then to captain, Assistant Chief, and Chief of Police.

While serving in Covington he earned an Associate's Degree and a Bachelor's Degree in Administration of Justice from Bluemont College. He is also a graduate of the Virginia Chiefs and Richmond University's Professional Executive Leadership Schools.

Panebianco left Covington to serve as interim Chief in Warsaw, Virginia, where he produced a well-regarded assessment of the Warsaw Department and played an active role in the selection of their new Chief.

In Louisa, he was reportedly praised for "his people skills, love of community policing, strong work ethic, high integrity, and impressive professional and administrative skills." He has also served as "an instructor for the police academy, emergency manager, grants professional, and as a consultant to other police departments."

Panebianco is credited with doing an excellent job during the 2011 Virginia Earthquake, whose epicenter was just nine miles from Louisa. He began Louisa's popular "Breaking Bread" program, in which the Chief and his officers ate lunch and discussed safety issues with local students, and introduced a new, supplemental oath of office for officers serving under him in Louisa: "The Oath of Honor" On My Honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the Constitution, and the community I serve, So Help Me God.