Face of law enforcement is beginning to change
By Staff
Melissa Cason, Franklin County Times
Law Enforcement is traditionally a male driven field with very few women on the streets chasing bad guys.
While this is still a popular stereotype, Franklin County has several good law enforcement officials who happen to be women.
Red Bay's Assistant Police Chief Jana Jackson is among the many women police officers in our county.
She began her career with Red Bay Police Department in 1996 as a dispatcher. She entered into the police academy a few months later.
"I did ride alongs with officers so I knew what I was getting into," Jackson said.
Jackson attended Montgomery Police Academy and was the only woman in her class and was appointed at Assistant Police Chief in 1998.
"I wasn't really treated any different or anything," Jackson said. "There were some other women in another class that went through the academy but not in mine."
While Jackson feels widely accepted by her peers in law enforcement, Chief Pat Creel said that he remembers a time when female police officers were few and far between.
"There were two women in my class at the academy, but that's was about it," Creel said.
Before coming to Red Bay, Creel had never worked with a female officer before but said women are becoming more commonplace in the field of law enforcement as law become more complex.
"You can't just hire a big guy to arrest people and take them to jail anymore," Creel said.
Creel feels that woman police officers are better investigators because they appeal to people on an emotional level, and crimes are increasingly becoming more emotional.
"A man just wants to know the facts but women care about how certain things make the victims feel," Creel said. "Men have to have special training to ask the emotional questions. It seems to come more naturally to women."
As for Jackson, she is a welcome addition to Red Bay's Department, and has become a role model for young women.
"These students really respond to Jana," Sue Entriken with Community Education said. "I don't think she knows how much she really affects these students here at Red Bay."
