The First Female Sheriff of King County Is a Role Model

Former King County Sheriff Sue Rahr is a beautiful, kind-hearted woman with light eyes and a wide smile. I had hardly known her, except through her writing–she is the lead author of a forthcoming paper, “From Warriors to Guardians: Recommitting American Police Culture to Democratic Ideals” with Dr. Stephen K. Rice, to be published this spring in Harvard University’s New Perspectives in Policing series.

In the paper and in practice, Ms. Rahr adheres to Sir Robert Peel’s principle:

The police are the people, and the people are the police.

A police department that listens to and honors the community is central to her philosophy. A 25+ year veteran of the police force, Ms. Rahr is vocal about police militarization. One reporter wrote:

She believes officers need empathy–not boot camp–to become effective guardians in communities. They can still be warriors when the need arises, but they have to be protectors first.

(Note: Community policing is not new to America. It has been central to U.S. law enforcement officers since the 1970s, when the idea was put into practice. However, recent incidents of violence, protests, and armored tanks in the Michael Brown case and other events has dampened the public’s trust in its police force.)

I had also known that Ms. Rahr participated in the “Task Force on 21st Century Policing,” created by President Obama to take a closer look at community policing and how to rebuild trust among law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.  Chaired by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, and Laurie Robinson, professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University and former Assistant Attorney General for DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, Ms. Rahr told me she was excited to engage with other professionals on an issue she has protected and honored throughout her career, first as a police officer and then as an elected official. (Meetings were held in Washington, D.C. earlier this month and the final report is expected in April.)

“I was honored to be selected. I felt like the little kid invited to sit at the adults table,” Ms. Rahr said.

“People [at the meeting] embraced my concept of changing police culture and used the language ‘from warriors to guardians’ in the policy paper,” she told me.

 

In 2012, Ms. Rahr took over as Executive Director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, where she has an opportunity to put her philosophy into practice when training hundreds of recruits every year. “We are training them to make decisions and use judgment,” she said.

Why She Joined the Police

Given Ms. Rahr’s professional success, I wanted to know more about the woman behind the uniform. How did a girl from the 1960s, who grew up in a traditional, conservative middle-class family from Washington state, aspire to be a police officer and Sheriff?

Growing up, Ms. Rahr said she was raised and taught to be a mother, learning about the role of girls and women from her stay-at-home-mom and the Leave it To Beaver TV program. Until the women’s rights movement and a class in college that exposed her to the criminal justice system–she dropped her plans to goto law school once she discovered how much she loved being a police officer.

“As a police officer on patrol, you are sent to deal with different problems. You decide how you handle it. It can be an independent job.” she said.

But it wasn’t easy.

Ms. Rahr shared her stories: of how she found a way to stay in the police department as “a pregnant cop” in the state of Washington when she was carrying her first son; of how she became a stay-at-home mom and tried to run a daycare from home when she was allowed a one year leave of absence; of how she never drove her police car home when her boys were growing up to shield them from “the ugly world of being a cop;” and how she changed the way she looked to prepare for the role of Sheriff. She said:

“I cut my hair. I stopped wearing feminine clothes. I went to a very new business look. During the election campaign, I went to two or three events a day in the community. The funny thing is that the most resistance came from women, who looked at me like you don’t look like a Sheriff.”

We laughed together when she said one woman told her she looked like a real estate agent.

She continued. “When I was running for Sheriff, I had to step outside of my comfort zone. I had to go out all these different political and community events. This was a new world for me. By nature, I am an introvert. I am not  very talkative. I like people, and I prefer one-on-one interactions. I’m not one for small talk. Now here I was, trying to adapt to this new role being a politician. I had to learn how to push my introverted nature; how to behave like an extrovert; how to go into social situations; and how to talk about what’s important for the Sheriff’s office. I had to show that I was confident in my job as a police officer. I had been there for 25 years.”

I had to prove myself again.”

She told me how she prepared for every challenge. “Every difficult challenge prepared me for the next one. When I was on the streets as a cop, the challenge was physical. When I was in a command-level position, then the challenge became one of leadership.”

A Message To Young Women

Ms. Rahr encourages young women to set new precedents, like she did. “You can do anything,” she told me.

It’s important to have a female role model that doesn’t look like the stereotypical cop. Look at me. I look like a normal, average-looking woman, so others can say ‘I can do that too.’ Young women today don’t have to be a super athlete to join the police.

She believes in being prepared for any challenge. It’s a message she has for her two grown boys. “Make your own opportunities,” she told them. “If you prepare yourself well, you can take advantage of an opportunity when it comes along. I haven’t sat back and waited for things to be dropped in my lap…Opportunity doesn’t knock…it presents itself after you kick in the door!”