Career Path of a Police Officer at UCLA Police Department

Absolutely. So right after high school, I went to a community college. I couldn't afford any of the schools I got into, so I decided to stay home and work while I went to school.

While at community college, I attended a career fair and saw an Air Force ROTC booth. I've always had a desire to serve in some capacity. So I checked it out and ultimately decided to join ROTC. For those who don't know, it's a way to prepare for joining the military without immediate commitment.

The base for ROTC was at UCLA. So once a week, I would drive to UCLA while still attending community college to go through the program. In high school, I hadn't applied to UCLA; it wasn't even on my radar. But as I went through the ROTC program, I thought, "Maybe it's a good idea to apply and see if I can get in." I applied, got accepted, and ended up transferring to UCLA after my first two years.

Ultimately, I decided not to pursue the ROTC route. I met my husband, and we got married. He was in the military, so we moved around. I was looking for jobs that would transfer well with his career. I was told that becoming a teacher was something I could do pretty much anywhere. So I started my adult career as a fifth-grade elementary school teacher.

I first started teaching in New Mexico. Then we moved back to California, and I taught for two more years as a fifth-grade teacher. I still had this feeling that I wanted to do something else, and my father is a police officer, which has always interested me. I loved certain aspects of teaching, but I wasn't completely convinced it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

So with a lot of encouragement from my husband and family, I decided to pursue a job in law enforcement. After about a year of going through the process, I started the academy and ultimately became a police officer with UCLA PD. My career is definitely not typical. What I've learned from other officers is that there really isn't a typical path. You might think of becoming a police officer as someone who goes to college for a criminal justice degree, but at least in our department, that's rare.

There's no single path, which is really awesome. We're all diverse in our backgrounds and bring so much to the table because of that. Regarding the second part of your question, I didn't have any internships or specific jobs related to law enforcement. However, I would say that general job experience can help you in many fields, including law enforcement.

Ironically, being a fifth-grade teacher isn't that different from dealing with some of the students in our community. You use many of the same empathy and communication skills with teachers and parents that you use when interacting with the community.