CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Lieutenant Ana Pile with the Kanawha County Sherriff’s Office says she hopes to serve as inspiration for all women looking to enter a career in law enforcement.

Pile recently became the first female Chief of Detectives for the KCSD in the office’s history.

Ana Pile (Photo from Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office)

In an interview with Dave Allen on 580 Live following the appointment, Pile said it didn’t come as much of a surprise to her that she is the first woman to serve in the role simply because of all of the great leaders who had already been in place in the position in the past.

But, she said she is glad to be able to hopefully pave the way for other women to break through the glass ceiling and serve.

“I’ve been surrounded by leaders, I’ve looked up to many great leaders in my career, and that’s not to say there haven’t been great females before me, there’s going to be great females after me, and they’re going to do great things,” Pile said.

Pile said she was able to be promoted into this position after former Chief of Detectives Sean Snuffer was promoted to Chief last year, and she was next in line.

She said she will now be in charge of leading criminal investigations with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Bureau of Investigations.

“The sexual assaults’, the child abuse, the homicides, fraud cases, it runs the gamut,” she said.

Pile said the bureau is made up of 12 detectives total including herself and her assistant COD.

She said they also handle road patrol and investigate misdemeanors.

Pile said Kanawha County has possibly some of the most diverse and challenging jurisdictions in the state to oversee because of its widespread socio-economic differences.

She said they have it divided into four different areas.

“We patrol the West, the East, the Elkview area, and the Sissonville area, and just imagine, that’s a lot of square mileage to cover,” she said.

Due to the often difficult work they do, Pile said recruiting people into law enforcement poses a major problem nationwide.

She said it’s something that’s a calling.

“I wish I knew the perfect thing to say to give somebody some incentive to want to do this, but you’ve got to want to do it, you need a good support system with your friends, your family,” Pile said.

A Kanawha County native, Pile said she majored in criminal justice at West Virginia State University.

She said getting into law enforcement was a gradual progression after first considering going into law school.

However, she said it turned out to be a blessing in disguise law school didn’t work out.

“That kind of fell through, I may or not have gotten the best LSAT score, and then Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office was hiring, and just thank God, I think my lucky stars I applied there, got hired, and I’ve now been there 20 years,” said Pile.

Pile said she started out as a patrol deputy in 2004.

She said she partly owes her appetite for law enforcement to what she grew up watching, such as Miami Vice and Silence of the Lambs.

Pile said the Kanawha County Sherriff’s Office currently operates on a task force of about 105 deputies, out of which, just five are female.

She said eventually, she hopes to get to a point where simply being a woman getting promoted in rank within the force won’t be considered a milestone as much as the promotion in rank itself.

“We don’t make up much of the department, but hopefully that will grow and hopefully females are going to find their niche in this profession, and they’re just going to continue to climb.”