A Woman's Place Is On The Force PDF Print E-mail
Written by Maria Gaura   
SANTA CRUZ (February 2010) - When Patty Sapone was 20 years old and studying to be a police officer, she took a job working security at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – the first woman ever to hold that position. There wasn’t much of a honeymoon period.
“It was rough-and-tumble,” Sapone said recently, grinning at the memory. “I got in a fight my second day at the job. I’d never been in a fight in my life before I put a uniform on.” Sapone won the scuffle. And she learned something about her abilities as a woman entering a traditionally male profession.
“I learned that I could jump in, and I could prevail physically,” Sapone said. “It’s not so much that you need a certain personality type to succeed (in police work), but you need the realization that you can do these things, and you can prevail.”
Sapone went on to thrive in a profession that is nearly as male-dominated today as it was when she took her first patrol job with the Santa Cruz Police Department in 1980.  Sapone retires this month with the rank of Deputy Chief, earned in the course of a 30-year career with the SCPD.
A SMALLER BADGE
Women had served with the SCPD for decades before Sapone joined the ranks, and for a time “policeman” and “policewoman” were separate job categories, complete with a smaller badge, and a slimmer paycheck, for the women. That had changed by the 1970s. But even then not many women officers stayed long on the job, and none had attained any rank before Sapone arrived.
“I was the fifth of five women on the force in 1980, but by 1986 or so, I was the only one left,” Sapone recalled. “I think the difference was that I was part of a new generation of women coming in. Criminal Justice was my course of study in college, and I had a plan.
“I was here to promote, I wanted to be a chief of police and move down the road,” Sapone said. “This was a career for me – I chose it, it didn’t choose me.”
But while Sapone chose her career, there was never much question about where she would pursue it. Sapone was born in Santa Cruz at the old Branciforte Plaza hospital on Soquel Ave., grew up on the Westside, and attended Holy Cross, Santa Cruz High and Cabrillo College before earning a degree in Criminal Justice from San Jose State University.
FAMILY TRADITION
Her father worked for the Santa Cruz Fire Department for 32 years, giving Sapone a clear understanding of the demands of a career in public safety.
“We knew that when my father had to be at the firehouse, he had to be there, no question,” Sapone said. “This kind of public service is a 24/7 commitment - your family makes it possible for you to have this job.”
One of Sapone’s first assignments was walking a beat on Pacific Avenue, and one of her favorite keepsakes is the weathered blue canvas cap she wore during those years, which came with a neat little grosgrain bow at the back.


Deputy Chief Sapone packs her favorite police cap as she clears her office

While working the downtown beat she got to know the street performers and runaway kids, the tourists and the downtown residents who gathered at the Cooper House to see and be seen. Police calls back then centered on a handful of seedy bars, and public outrage focused on the migration of tie-dye clad panhandlers who converged on Santa Cruz when the Grateful Dead was playing nearby. Pacific Avenue was lively during the day, but evenings were a different story.
“Before the (1989 Loma Prieta) earthquake, there was nothing going on downtown at night,’ Sapone recalled. “You used to be able to stand in the middle of Pacific Avenue after dark, yakking with friends, no traffic at all.”
STREET TRENDS
Like any street cop, she learned how to identify which trendy drugs her contacts were under the influence of, and how to deal differently with a suspect who might be high on alcohol, heroin, cocaine, PCP, Ecstasy, methamphetamine or marijuana. Street gangs that are now the focus of community concern have been in Santa Cruz for decades, Sapone said, with opposing factions on the Westside and the Beach Flats.
“They used to fight with bats and chains,” Sapone said. “And it used to be a huge deal to stab or shoot. But now my officers see it all the time. They’re more violent, and there’s more of it.”
She got to know generations of families, some of them on the force, and some of them handcuffed in the back seat of her cruiser.
“I’ve worked with fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and now I work with the grandson of a man who was a lieutenant I worked for when I got here,” Sapone said. “I’ve also seen three generations of people in the same family in trouble with the law, and they kind of treat me like a great-aunt.
“I run into the grandmother sometimes, and she’ll let me know how all the kids are doing,” Sapone said. Like Sapone herself, “they all grew up here.”
EARNING RESPECT
Sapone, who was Officer Reedy when she joined the department, steadily climbed the ranks to become Sergeant Reedy, then Lt. Reedy. Lieutenant Reedy only existed for ten days, however, before she married and became Lt. Sapone.
Male officers could be tough on women officers, Sapone said, and she approached her job knowing that she had to prove herself.
“I think men always worried that a woman wouldn’t take the initiative, that they wouldn’t be aggressive or physical enough, that they wouldn’t jump into a fight when they needed you,” Sapone said. “I had to earn the trust of every single person I worked with. Nothing was automatic. And I had to go through that process again every time I was promoted.
“But you get acceptance by being good at your job, and I was good,” Sapone said. “It also helps to have a sense of humor.”
A SERIES OF FIRSTS
Sapone was the first woman to be promoted to all ranks in the SCPD, the first female field training office, and the first lieutenant in Community Service, which oversees community-oriented policing programs. She served 18 years of her 30 years in management, worked for four different chiefs, and has been certified as a hostage negotiator, peer counselor, tactical commander, and a cultural diversity instructor.
She has received awards for her work with domestic violence victims, and victims of other crime, and has taught at the police academy for16 years.
She retires this month as the longest-serving female officer in department history. She plans to continue teaching at the academy, and her other plans for retirement are a work in progress. If she had the opportunity to choose a career again, she would definitely choose police work.
“Damn straight,” Sapone said. “It’s a wonderful career for a woman or a man. It’s challenging, and meaningful, and it’s fun. I mean, you can’t tell me that getting on a police motorcycle isn’t fun, or getting into a car and flipping on the lights and siren to go help somebody isn’t fun.
“When you’re young, you might not recognize in yourself a finely-honed sense of fair play, of right and wrong, of nurturing and protection,” Sapone said. “But to do this work you have to love people, (and) ... police work comes down to people being willing to step up and work for people, and the safety of people.”
 
 
Trackback(0)
Comments (0)add
feedSubscribe to this comment's feed
Write comment

busy
 
Joomla Templates by Joomlashack