BRPD first female deputy chief of staff inspires women to pursue law enforcement

Ana Conejo
·3 min read
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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Sharon Douglas is the first female to hold the deputy chief of police position in the Baton Rouge Police Department.

A dream she had since she was young.

“As a young child, I had a, you know, a rough go. A lot of dysfunction in a household to where I was put in positions where I actually encountered law enforcement. With those officers being there actually provided a sense of safety and security,” Douglas said.

Douglas is from Plaquemine, Louisiana. She is a mother and a wife that has always seen service as part of her calling.

“I kind of knew that I wanted to be in some type of service position. ‘Was the idea of law enforcement?’ I wasn’t sure yet. However, as I became a young adult and started surrounding myself with a lot of police officers in the convenience store that I worked at, they, um, you know, that was when I was like, yes, I definitely want to do this,” Douglas said.

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Douglas is also the chief of staff for BRPD. Holding on to 20 years of law enforcement, she has held many different positions including police patrol, training academy director, police recruiter, special projects coordinator and a senior master instructor for the state of Louisiana for post. Douglas was also selected as a core team member.

“That is one of my biggest accomplishments, that BRPD has a seat at the table in regard to training that will be implemented throughout the state,” Douglas said.

But it hasn’t been easy, she emphasizes, especially as a woman in the field.

“There are times where we do typically face some adversity to where we feel that when we walk in a room, we’ve got to prove ourselves,” Douglas said. “There’s so few of us right now. Baton Rouge Police has 63 women on the police department.”

As Women’s History Month takes place she hopes to encourage more females to join, especially in a male-dominant field.

“I definitely want to use this platform to lift up women in law enforcement to make sure that we are meeting them where they are. If you’re not familiar with the 30 by 30 initiative and because of all the skills and abilities that women bring to law enforcement, the goal is to increase the number of women in law enforcement to 30% by 2030,” said Douglas.

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For those interested in pursuing a law enforcement career, she sends a special message.

“Just stay committed and keep pushing forward because you can do this. Don’t be intimidated by it. You belong in law enforcement,” Douglas said. “Women bring so many skills that’s needed in law enforcement, great communicators, good sound, much more informed thinkers. That skill set is very much so needed. They have a unique ability to air on their communication skills to de-escalate, which would make a significant impact in law enforcement.”

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