Out in force: Richwood police have strong core of women officers

RICHWOOD

Driving around at night, if you pass a Richwood Police Department vehicle you are more likely to see a woman officer behind the wheel and patrolling the area.

Nadia Lugo, Samantha Stallberg, Elivera Garcia and Leslie Ortiz make up the quartet of women the city has wearing the department’s badge.

Richwood is unique because of the number of female officers compared to other cities’ departments, Lugo said. Most agencies she’s worked for usually only have one or two women in the position, she said.

“There’s so many of us. It’s awesome. And it’s great to show the public that we’re out here and we want to work and we work as much as the guys do, if not harder,” Lugo said.

Women make up 12 percent of law enforcement in the United States and 3 percent of its leadership ranks, according to a July report by NPR. With Richwood, over 36 percent of their police officer staff is female.

The female foursome is representing women in a field that has been dominated by males. Good verbal communication is the main perk of having a female officer dealing with an issue, they said.

“A lot of people feel more comfortable with a female officer moreso than a male because males can kind of be intimidating at times to people,” Stallberg said. “I think females actually, we are the voice.”

She hopes to break the perception some people have of police officers, she said.

“There is that negative perspective of officers nowadays, especially recently in the years, and that was one of the things that I thought — I want to try to try to change that in our society and in our area,” Stallberg said.

It’s awesome being in law enforcement and being able to work with beside women she likes and get along, Ortiz said.

“Being able to sometimes hear the other surrounding agencies, I do hear a lot more female voices as well,” Garcia said.

Although all of them landed in Richwood, they took different paths to get there.

Lugo grew up fascinated by law enforcement and drew inspiration from watching the TV show “Cops.”

A law enforcement program through San Antonio College she attended in high school provided her first real experience in the field, she said.

The program is hands-on and open to young men and women who have completed the sixth grade through age 20, and interested in a career in law enforcement or a related field in the criminal justice system, according to their website.

Lugo joined the National Guard military police at 18 years old to generate experience. She then pursued the police academy in San Antonio.

Being in the military police gave her a taste as to what working in the force would look like, she said.

“It was exciting, I guess most of us in law enforcement are adrenaline junkies. It just seemed like something that would be really interesting to do,” Lugo said.

Although Lugo misses birthdays, Thanksgiving and other holidays because she is working, her caring fellow workers help her make up for it by helping her take care of her children, she said.

“Your agency, or your brothers and sisters, we become a family and they help out,” she said. “I have people watching my son for me right now so I can go to training and better myself and at the same time I’m comfortable because I know my son is taken care of.”

Lugo was friends with Stallberg, dating back to Stallberg’s tenure in Lake Jackson when they would chat during stops.

“She told me, ‘Hey, we have a position and you need to come in right now and fill out an application,’” Stallberg said.

Stallberg is the newest member of the force, with the ink on her paperwork fresh, finishing up orientation this week.

Law enforcement was not her first ambition as a child — nursing was, she said.

Before working for Richwood, Stallberg was a stay-at-home mom for 12 years until she moved to Brazoria County.

“I needed to find a real job, an adult job and my husband is in law enforcement. A lot of my friends are in law enforcement and they’ve said positive things about it and so I was like, ‘You know what, I’m just gonna take that leap of faith and I’m gonna join the academy,’” she said.

Stallberg attended the Brazosport College Police Academy program, and two months before her graduation, COVID-19 struck.

The school talked the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement into allowing them to finish the academy via Zoom.

She had lined up a position with the Lake Jackson Police Department before she graduated. Two years later, Stallberg ended up in Richwood.

Garcia has always been open to different career paths and got the support needed to pursue law enforcement.

Her husband is on the staff at Richwood Police Department, working as a detective while she’s on patrol.

Their schedules differ, with her working the night shift, but on her days off, they find time for one another.

“I usually only work nights and have the days off but that’s how we spend our time together,” Garcia said.

Her husband helped her pursue law enforcement and it’s something she always wanted to do, Garcia said.

Ortiz served 17 years as a jail officer with the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office, making her very familiar with law enforcement, she said. She realized she wanted to make a change.

“Honestly, I thought I’d be in the jail to retire,” Ortiz said. “Then things changed, my perspective changed on things and I just wanted to do something different.”

She grew up sheltered and soft spoken. It was a surprise to her peers when she wanted to join law enforcement.

Ortiz attempted an office job in between her jail and police officer positions, but it did not go the way she wanted, she said.

“As the days went on, it’s like, ‘no, this isn’t me,’ and I missed the uniform and just the craziness,” Ortiz said.

Little girls often approach the women telling them they want to be officers when they grow up.

“I love it that there is a motivation that is still there that girls can do what they want to do,” Lugo said.

She is confident that with more women entering the field, they will dethrone a stereotype.

More women are coming into the field because it’s not just a man’s job anymore, Lugo said.