Al Angele joined the Burbank Police Department in 1963 after serving four years active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served 15 years with Burbank PD, retiring with the rank of Sergeant in 1978 due to an injury. He spent the next 22 years as an elected official and representative with local, state, national and international police unions.

During those 22 years, at times serving in multiple positions. Al was President of the Burbank Police Officers Association from 1976 to 1980; Executive Director of the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs from 1978 to 1999; and International Secretary-Treasurer of the International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO from 1985 to 1990. He has been a guest editorialist for USA Today and has been on radio and television discussing law enforcement issues.

In 1991, he was appointed to represent the Southern California law enforcement community on the Los Angeles Host Committee for the nationwide tour of the Bill of Rights, and during that same year he was part of the law enforcement media video taping the dedication of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at Judiciary Square in Washington, DC.

In 1987, he traveled to West Germany where he participated in an exchange program with members of the West German Police Union, Gewerkschaft Der Polizei. He returned to Germany in November, 1989, and was in Berlin during the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1990, he traveled to Nicaragua as a representative of the AFL-CIO and the United States Law Enforcement community where he participated in monitoring the Presidential election.

Al was recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives when a tribute was paid to him for his accomplishments. The tribute was made a part of the Congressional Record, August 3, 1990, Vol. 136, No. 104. He has also received proclamations honoring his accomplishments from California’s Senate and Assembly.

During his forty-five year career, Al received two California gubernatorial appointments. In 1979, he was appointed to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). He served in that position for five years. In 1999, he retired from union representation in order to accept an appointment to the Board of Prison Terms (BPT) which required him to travel to California’s prisons where he conducted parole consideration hearings for prisoners serving life terms with the possibility of parole. He served in that position until 2005.

After leaving the Board of Prison Terms, Al assumed his current position as RDPOA’s Executive Director, and serves as an adjunct professor in the Administration of Justice Department at College of the Canyons in Valencia, California.