Video: Life As A Woman In Blue

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The Starkville Police Department is making history.

City leaders approve the promotion of Brooke Carpenter and Crystal Hackett to sergeant.

This is the first time in the department’s history that two female officers have been promoted at the same time.

Law Enforcement is a male-dominated field, but that doesn’t stop women from wanting to protect and serve.

The Starkville Police Department has a handful of female officers, and they perform the same duties as their male counterparts.

Men and women receive the same training at the Police Academy, and are required to meet the same standards.

All equal and no difference best describes what it’s like to be a female police officer. They wear the same uniforms, took the same oath, and protect and serve just like male officers.

“There’s no limit just because you’re a female, you know, you can do whatever you set your mind to, just because there’s a career, or you know a job that’s male dominated by a certain sex, it doesn’t mean you can’t go out there and succeed,” says Corporal Crystal Hackett.

Hackett had no idea she would be a police officer until she worked as a dispatcher, and realized she wanted to be out in the field.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I was blessed, and the opportunity was there, and I was a single mother with a daughter, and I got in it and loved it, and it really worked well with my military career, so it just kind of lined up together.”

Hackett says her transition was smooth, but that hasn’t always been the case.

“When I first came in law enforcement, having a female officer on your shift was frowned upon, and that was back in the cave man days of course, but now days, the women can do just as much as the men or better. As a matter of fact, I find them to be better officers because they communicate better,” says Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols.

Detective Brooke Carpenter has been a police officer for 13 years, and knew she wanted to be one at a young age. She says she does her job just like the men, but sometimes she deals with criminals in a different way.

“If we need to tackle him, we can tackle him, but I think we would utilize more of a talking strategy that would seem to work out better for us than just you know, brute force until necessary.”

Carpenter says one thing she learned early on is that criminals don’t care who is trying to cuff them.

“If they don’t want to obey, then they’re not going to obey, whether you’re male or female. I don’t think our sensitivity plays a part in a lot of things, but in a lot of places it does. It helps to bring in a female to kind of diffuse a situation at some point.”

Besides being a full time detective, Carpenter is also a full-time mom to her 10 month old daughter.

“You have to realize you want to make the world a better place for her, and everyone coming up to live in, so hey look, get out there, do your thing, and get it done, and make things better for your child.”