The bookends of Angela’s career begin in Georgia and end in Virginia. She started her career with DeKalb Sheriff’s Department in 1979 and later the County’s Police Department in 1983, serving as a sworn officer. She worked her way through competitive promotions from uniform and detective divisions before leaving the U.S. for her first overseas assignment in 1997. Her full-time career closed in 2018 after a six-year assignment in Washington D.C. as a contracted Program Manager for Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Bureau’s Antiterrorism Assistance Program.
The body of her career began in 1997 when she transitioned from domestic to international law enforcement work by deploying to Europe and serving as an expert advisor to police commanders after the Balkans war. Her first job was as Adviser to the Police Chief in the city of Brcko, Bosnia.
This assignment for the State Department’s Bureau of International Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) was foundational toward the whole of Angela’s career ahead. After the ceasefire in the Former Yugoslavia all police managers were compelled by law to reintegrate and restructure their bureaus to reflect the ethnic and cultural realities of the population. Her job was to assist them meet their goals and objectives. She regularly facilitated workplace meetings where unspoken racism and deep distrust existed in the minds of every individual in the room; conflict resolution among these reunited battle-hardened LEO’s in the workplace was a challenge and rewarding. Observing and aiding their individual efforts to heal, evolve and shake off the fog-of-war was extraordinary and enlightening.
In 2003 she was selected to work with the Criminal Intelligence Unit in Kosovo. There she not only served as an analyst but also as Executive Officer to the Police Commissioner of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. She coordinated interagency communication networks among multinational and multi-language speakers to create productive relationships and information sharing between senior members of the Kosovo Police, United Nations, NATO and the G8.
After that assignment she moved on to work with Department of Justice recruiting and staffing their post-war rule-of-law project in Iraq. She followed this by deploying for DOJ to deliver courses about Community Policing methods and Interviews & Interrogation to students at the Police College in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
In 2005 The Department of State hired her and stationed her as Senior Police Advisor at Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan. There she worked with U.S. based managers and analysts implementing police training, development and reform programs. Over two years, she worked managing one of the largest international police training and assistance programs the USG has ever implemented. She did everything from oversee the police training conducted by law enforcement contractors, high-level reform efforts at the Ministry of Interior and overall program design.
After Afghanistan, she moved on to the Embassy in Haiti, serving there for over three years running Department of State’s law enforcement programs on the ground. In 2010, only hours after taking the American Ambassador and the Commander of U.S. Armed Forces (SOUTHCOM) on a tour of State Department funded police development programs she was injured in the violent earthquake that devastated the country, killed tens of thousands, and put her life and career on a new path.
In 2018 she ended her full-time career and only took occasional consulting work. Looking to find a location convenient to grandchildren and great-grandchildren she and her husband David decided to permanently settle in the beautiful area east of Charlottesville.
Until the harmful actions of the current administration, Angela was enjoying a quiet rural lifestyle of Troy Virginia with her husband, family and friends. Now, highly motivated and in possession of skills that make her a powerhouse inside any chaotic or malice laden bureaucracy we can imagine on the horizon –
She’s ready to fight! She is mission ready.
WITH YOUR HELP – SHE WILL WIN!
She’s building a strong foundation of support but needs your help.
Will you chip in to Angela’s Campaign and become a Founding Donor today?
Learn more at Angela Chainer For House of Delegates - District 56 - www.angelachainer.com