Michael Albanese

Michael Albanese joined the Burbank Police Department as a Police Captain in April, 2010. In July, 2015 he was promoted to Deputy Chief. In July, 2021 he was promoted to Interim Police Chief and in January of 2022, named permanent Police Chief.

Chief Albanese worked for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for 37 years. During his tenure at the LAPD, he was assigned to the LAPD’s Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT), both as a Police Officer and a Sergeant, and was the Cadre Leader of the Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) for over eight years.

Chief Albanese has more than 26 years of SWAT and CNT experience and has been involved in numerous crisis incidents, both as an operator and in a command-control position. In addition to participating in law enforcement seminars throughout the United States and Canada related to the SWAT and negotiation process, he has authored numerous articles that encompass both the SWAT and CNT disciplines. Moreover, he is presently co-authoring a case studies textbook related to the human dynamics of hostage-taking incidents.

Chief Albanese attended California State University at Los Angeles where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration. He earned his Masters of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California.