Deputy Chief A.J. DeAndrea (retried) began his career with the Arvada, Colorado Police Department in 1993, retiring from APD in 2023. During his time there, he served as a member of the Jefferson County Regional SWAT Team from 1996 to 2012 - a collateral duty team where he was a Team Leader. The majority of his career was spent on patrol, but he also spent 2 years as the Sergeant of the Internal Affairs Unit and 4 years as the Sergeant in the Community Response Impact Team (CRIT) and was also an Operations Commander. As Deputy Chief, he oversaw both the Field and Operations divisions of the Arvada Police Department.

Deputy Chief DeAndrea is a lead instructor for the NTOA's Team Leader Development Course, a lead instructor in the NTOA's Command College, a Master Less Lethal Instructor, and a Colorado and Alaskan POST certified instructor. He teaches Leadership, Officer Survival, Building Searches, Rapid and Immediate Deployment (RAID), Enhanced Active Shooter Strategies, Single Officer Response to an Active Shooter, SWAT, SWAT Team Leader Development, Defensive Tactics, and Firearms, as well as many other disciplines. He was formally certified in Explosive Breaching. Deputy Chief DeAndrea graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1990 and has a Bachelor of Arts degree. He graduated from the Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command, Class 504, and the FBI National Academy Session 283. In 2014, Deputy Chief DeAndrea received the John Kolman Award of Excellence from the National Tactical Officers Association.