My nomination for "Women CAN be Law Enforcement Officers"

You see that lady? The one with the flag in the air?

That is a woman that I will call Zena. That is her current Nom-de-Guerre. That is what all the truck drivers in northern San Diego County know her as.

Zena came to Oceanside after spending her Probation in San Jose.

I worked with Zena for a month on night shift, and I never had so much fun, yet got more work done, than we did that month.

Zena always shows up for work on time. She is diligent in doing her job, and not spending time in coffee shops or out at her home. Her reports are beautiful, and she gets along with everyone.

In the photo, a group of us went to the airport. Fellow officer Ken Wood was returning from Desert Storm, after being activated as a Marine Corps Reserve. On September 11, 2001, Zena was one of the first ones to find a US flag and put it on the antennae of her Commercial Enforcement vehicle.

Zena was a road patrol officer until 1996. She had to work the night shift. In three quick cases, people complained that she had slighted them in some fashion.

Sergeants "investigate" and "make" one of three findings: Sustained, not sustained, or unfounded. Sustained means that the Segeant believes that you did it, and it counts against you in your personnel file. Not sustained often means that the Sergeant believes that you may have done it, but he/she can not prove it. Unfounded means you were in another state that day.

In Zena's third complaint, she had been giving tests to a possible DUI driver. He had said to her," I'm not drunk". According to that driver, Zena had given him a " Sarcastic Smirk". The Sergeant had sustained the complaint.

Zena went to the truck scales. In 2000, she asked for and got a vehicle that looks like a camper pickup. It is black and white, has a light bar on top, and the camper part is full of test gear used for big rigs, trucks, and commercial vehicles.

Zena doesn't take any sass from truck drivers. She is proof that a woman can be a cop.