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Portraits by Peter Bucks
Tributes to officers from the CPD Officer, Lodge 7 member and renowned artist
n BY AMBER RAMUNDO
Every officer has a reason why they become the police. Lisa Rocco’s started as a quest to prove a point.
Rocco was in her early twen- ties when she was told that women don’t have what it takes to be in law enforcement. Her ex–father-in-law was a veteran officer of 30 years and held a strong traditional view that women don’t belong on the job.
“Challenge accepted,” Roc- co remembers thinking as she started taking — and passing — one exam after another, without really intending to be- come an officer.
Now, 25 years later, Roc- co has upheld her mission to prove that women can do any- thing. It just so happens that she found a career that she’s passionate about along the way.
“I never had any intention, but here I am,” Rocco notes as she reflects on the coinciden- tal startup she now finds com- ical.
Upon being hired to the 009
in 1993, at the age of 23, Roc-
co became the third female
to work midnights on the job.
From the start, Rocco never
doubted her ability to be the police, but she want- ed to make sure her partners knew she’d have their backs.
“I didn’t want a man to feel like he had to protect me,” she states. “I went there knowing that I had to have a bit of a hard shell.”
Even though Rocco was determined to prove herself to the CPD, the officers she worked with made it clear from the start that her family in blue had her back, no matter what. Apart from providing her with the security to help raise her children, the support system that links law enforcement has become Rocco’s biggest asset.
“I always felt that even though I was [one of few] females on the job, if I needed something, there was always someone there to lend a helping hand and point me in the right direction,” she
confirms. “I know that if some- thing ever were to happen to me, my family would be taken care of.”
Those who worked shifts with Rocco quickly found that what she lacked in height and stature, she made up for with her knack for talking to any- one. Rocco’s family jokes that she has the ability to engage both the living and the dead in conversation, which comes in handy on the job as Rocco per- suades criminals to tell their story and helps other officers solve their problems as a unit rep for the 009.
“I would rather talk some- one into my back seat than have to fight with them,” she explains. “And if there’s a prob- lem at work, people feel like they can come and talk to me.”
By now, Rocco has enough years on the job to switch her schedule to work days. In the beginning, working midnights was the choice she made to be there for her two kids. Roc- co would get home at 6 a.m. to sleep while her kids were at school, only to wake up in time to attend their sporting events and help with home- work. But even as her kids have progressed into college, Rocco
has continued with the schedule that her body knows well.
“You adjust yourself to [midnights] and make the best of it,” she assures. “It’s important for me to be there
Point proven
LISA ROCCO Star #3102
for family things and my children.”
Rocco now sees herself in the young female officers who join
the CPD force. But in contrast to her start, the chance of finding a female working a midnight shift now is almost 50/50. As she notices more of a female presence on the job, Rocco can’t help but take on somewhat of a “Mother Goose” role in the District as she encourages them to do their best.
“We do have to prove ourselves, but doesn’t everybody have to prove themselves?” she comments. “Male officers are a lot more open-minded than they used to be. They see us as equals. Just be yourself and let them know that you have their backs.” d
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