PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Former Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene has a new job as the chief of police in Lexington, Virginia.
Lexington City Manager Jim Halasz made the announcement on Thursday. Greene will take over on May 10 and replaces Interim Chief Mike Frost. Lexington picked Greene over 19 applicants.
“Lexington continues to attract talented professionals to the community,” Halasz said. “During the search for the new Chief of Police, we had 19 very talented and experienced applicants, from the State of Virginia and outside the state. Making the selection for the new Chief was surprisingly difficult, because we had several excellent finalists for the position. However, Ms. Angela Greene, who has had a long career, in law enforcement, in the cities of Richmond and Portsmouth, made her way to the top of my list and I am thrilled that Angela will be joining our City team and the community, as our next Chief of Police.”
The city in western Virginia has about 7,000 residents and features the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University.
“I am ecstatic to become a part of the Lexington family, and for the privilege to lead the honorable men and women of the Lexington Police Department,” Greene said in a release. “Working in partnership with our community, we will continue the successes in public safety that the city has enjoyed over the years, while elevating the levels of community collaboration and improving the quality of life for everyone.”
Greene, who has two decades of experience in law enforcement, was fired from the Portsmouth Police Department back in November in the wake of the incident at the city’s Confederate monument last summer. The incident led to a man being seriously hurt and more than a dozen Black community leaders, including State Senator Louise Lucas, being charged. Those charges were later dropped.
Greene denied she did anything wrong and said she plans to sue for wrongful termination.