by Deputy Liah Ector & DSA Director Dawn Morabe
March is Women’s History Month. History is defined as the study of past events connected with someone or something. In a slight detour from a historical chronicle, we are instead highlighting some of the women in our department and the ways in which they enrich our history today.
Every single one of us is part of multiple cultures, not just a singular culture. As women, we are part of a woman’s culture, a law enforcement culture, and a societal culture. We do our part to make our cultures and our world better. We are diverse and rich with the values and experiences we bring to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. Our diversity is rich and extends well beyond our race and gender.
We represent the women behind the San Diego Sheriff’s Star. Let us not be judged by our appearance but instead be recognized for the unique talents we bring. Below is a collection of her-stories, which represent all of us women. It is our collective story that is adding to history. Here we stand with deep satisfaction in who we are, in our achievements and qualities, and for all the unique gifts we as women bring to our cultures.
Deputy Danielle Pozun
Vista Detention Facility
I have been with the Sheriff’s Department for one year. Prior to joining, I served ten years on Active Duty, and now serve in the Marine Corps Reserves. Simply put, military service changes you. The Marine Corps taught me the value of initiative, accountability, and attention to detail. I learned how to fail, how to succeed with humility, how to lead, and how to follow. I also learned how to eat quickly and sleep anywhere.
In Afghanistan, living in uncertainty was the norm; I had to improvise and adapt to overcome changing situations. I also gained a new perspective. Clean water, paved roads, and plumbing were luxuries I took for granted. I saw the harsh realities that many Afghan and Iraqi women face due to severe economic, social, and political restrictions. Yet despite the restrictions, these women risked their lives to vote, go to school, and have a voice. In difficult situations, I discovered that shared hardship builds cohesion. I discovered that while a college degree is a worthy achievement, having a growth mindset is far more valuable. I experienced firsthand that while the military has made significant advances, there are still negative perceptions about female servicemembers. If I succeeded, it was because I was a female and probably met a diversity quota. If I failed, it was because I was a female and was not cut out for the military. I share this not as a complaint, but a challenge. I capitalized on my strengths and worked on my weaknesses, and at the end of the day, my work spoke for itself.
What do veterans bring to the department? Perspective, initiative, accountability, teamwork. What do female veterans bring to the department? The same, but with a little more grit. I, Danielle Pozun, stand with and for all the women in law enforcement who are serving, and have served, in the military.
Deputy Amanda Johnson
Vista Patrol Station
I have been with the Sheriff’s Department for seven years. I am currently assigned as a Juvenile Detective Officer (JDO). Prior to joining the department, I worked with youth and coached high school basketball. I have always had a compelling passion to work with youth and help shape the minds of the future. My experiences have taught me that not every child is fortunate enough to be born into a loving home or presented with valuable opportunities and experiences. This realization has contributed to my wife and I adopting two amazing, phenomenal, perfect ALL THE TIME children.
Like most people, my wife and I feel that every child deserves a loving home where they can grow and thrive. Adoption has allowed my wife and I to provide our girls with a loving and stable home. In return, our girls constantly teach us patience, balance, and what a loving environment can do for a person. I am aware I cannot adopt every child in need of guidance or a loving home, but the Sheriff’s Department has provided me with the opportunity to reach the youth that may need the most support. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with youth daily and provide them with guidance and support to make better decisions.
Being a mother of two children who could have had a completely different set of experiences has taught me that compassion, empathy, and communication go a long way and can determine an outcome. Often as a JDO I find myself utilizing these qualities with the families I am encountering. As a mother and JDO, each day presents a new challenge. Although I believe adolescents are among the most engaging and intriguing audiences you can work with, they also keep you on your toes. I tell my girls and the children I come across in the field that, regardless of what their circumstances are, they should hold true to the values of responsibility, servant leadership, and respect.
What do mothers bring to the department? The mothers in law enforcement embody so many positive attributes: we are loving, hardworking, problem-solvers, and can balance multiple things at once. In short, mothers GET THE JOB DONE! I, Amanda Johnson, stand with and for all the women in law enforcement who are making our world a better place for children.
Deputy Shannon Huard
Las Colinas Detention Facility
I have been on the department for eight years. Prior to joining, I received my Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree from Hope International University in Ministry with an emphasis in Intercultural Studies and a minor in Biblical Studies. Before beginning my Master’s Program, I lived in China for a year and a half. I worked as a Business English teacher and taught at the local university in Nanchang, Jiangxi province in China. I also taught for a short time in both Chengdu, Sichuan province and in Hong Kong. While in China, I had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places. I worked on a team of seven teachers who I did life with. This group became my family. During my time there I was able learn some of the language, history, and culture of the country. My Chinese skills have faded over the years, but my love of the culture and the food has not.
My experiences in Asia, as well as my educational background have helped mold me into the Deputy I am today. Women in law enforcement have a unique role and opportunity. We tend to approach situations with our words and common background before exerting our authority. Our strength comes from our ability to recognize the totality of a situation and respond accordingly. To be a woman in this career, you must be tough, which is proven day one of the academy, but you also must be smart. In my eight years, I have seen how much the culture has changed and how we are continuing to grow as a department. My educational background continues to motivate me to always be learning and adapting to however the law enforcement culture changes. I, Shannon Huard, stand with and for all the women in law enforcement who have been enriched by different cultures.
Deputy Julia Breer
Prisoner Transportation
I have been on the department for nine years and I am currently assigned to the Prisoner Transportation Unit. When I look at what I have done with my time here, undoubtedly, what has given me the most joy is being a part of the Women’s Pistol Shooting Team. We all know that being in law enforcement there are ebbs and flows. When I joined the team, I was most definitely in an ebb! An email was sent out department-wide looking for female shooters to try out for a team. One of my partners asked if I would try out with her. At first, I did not want to have anything to do with it, but she asked, so I did. I thought I was doing her a favor. Unfortunately, she did not make the cut, but I did. We went out for lunch the next week. I apologized and told her I felt bad that I was going to be doing something that she wanted to do. She quickly explained to me that she never even wanted to be on the team, she just wanted to pull me out of a rut and get me excited about our job again. Wow! That is a partner. I have competed now for the last three years.
This year’s team has grown into 12 amazing shooters. These ladies come from across the county, from every bureau and from all walks of life. The great equalizer is that a pistol does not care who you are, it cares what you know. We put in countless hours of practice to be one of the top teams in the nation. Our practices are held twice a week and we implement different courses of fire working towards our fastest times. Last year we put in a ton of training only to find out that the 2020 Women’s Pistol Invitational (WPI) was cancelled. We transitioned our efforts and competed in the United States Police and Fire Championships. We placed 1st in Teams and each shooter ranked extremely well in the individual shoots. To hear us celebrate each other’s victories is something I am most proud of.
One unidentified team member (Rachael Shotwell) jumps and screams like she is the next contestant on the Price is Right when a teammate has a clean run.
Our comradery is our solidarity. This year we are going to again compete in the WPI, and we are training to rank at the top. We are making history! For our hours of training, our countless drills, our unwavering focus, our precision shooting, and our resolute patience we offer up as value to our department.
I, Julia Breer, stand with and for all women in law enforcement who are pushing themselves for faster splits and team wins.
Deputy Joanna Perez
Vista Detention Facility
I started my career in law enforcement at the age of 21 and I have worked with the Sheriff’s Department for 13 years now. In 2011, I married my wonderful husband Frank, and we began our family journey. We had our first daughter Isabella in September of 2012, our second daughter Alexis in 2015, just 15 months later my first son Louie was born in June of 2016, and finally we had our youngest daughter Anahi in September of 2019. Aside from being committed to my career, having a big family is especially important to me.
Finding the balance of having a career amid being a wife and having four children has been quite the experience. There is a never a dull moment with a house that is full of energetic and fun little ones. It is important to keep things on a schedule in our household to manage all the responsibilities that we have with the kids and home. COVID-19 restrictions and school lockdowns have forced us to be even more regimented to make sure our kids are excelling with virtual learning. This has not been easy. I have even had to sharpen my math skills and relearn the new way of common core math to be able to help teach this to my kids. Having kids has taught me patience and persistence and the importance of recognizing their needs ahead of my own. There are always sacrifices that go with balancing a family and a career. My sacrifice a lot of times is a normal amount of sleep, because regularly I must keep composed even if I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before. There is a lot of compromise, compassion, and diffusing high emotions and high stress situations. My children are all quite different and each of them is handled in ways that are most effective for them to stay on task. This is including the way I discipline them as well.
Working in the detention center, I quickly realized that a lot of what I learn at home raising a family and just being a mom to my kids has really transferred a skillset that has helped me to work with inmates as well. I find myself having a higher tolerance and a level of compassion for these inmates that I believe comes from a maternal instinct. This helps me to diffuse high escalation issues with them and gives me the patience to listen to their cries and deal with them all as individual people with different needs. My experience daily as a mother seems to prepare me daily for my work life as well. To maintain personal happiness, there is a balance between work and home that must always be kept in order.
I, Joanna Perez, stand with and for all the women in law enforcement who are matriarchs and who take on the daily struggle to be the best versions of ourselves. We juggle careers, being wives, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, caretakers, and every other title we take on because we are willing and we are able, even when we feel like we are falling short.
Deputy Amanda Rego
Santee Patrol Station
Deputy Amber Sprague
North Coastal Sheriff’s Station
Amanda Rego and Amber Sprague have been with the department for just a couple years now. They met when they were 12-years old and quickly realized they had a shared passion for basketball. In high school they won two CIF championships, and then subsequently both earned athletic scholarships to the University of San Diego. While at USD, they became very accomplished collegiate athletes.
Amber set the university’s all-time scoring and rebounding records and was a First Team all WCC selection. Amanda set the university’s all-time assists and steals records, lead the nation in assists, and was named the WCC player of the year. Together, they won a WCC Championship and participated in the NCAA tournament.
After they each graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, they continued their athletic pursuits and played professional basketball. Amber played overseas for four years, including stints in Greece, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic and Amanda played for six years in Germany. As fate would have it, their paths eventually led them back to San Diego where they were both called to a career of service with the Sheriff’s Department. What value do collegiate women athletes bring to our department? Here are her words.
Amanda’s words: Competition has been at the center of my being. It was in college where I began to see the separation between athletes who relied on their natural talents, and those who were intentional in their preparation. I made a promise to myself, and my teammates, that they would get the best of me, and in return, I would demand the same from them. My collegiate basketball career taught me how to work toward a common goal with teammates from all walks of life. It taught me to lead with authority and how to be led with grace. I learned the importance of time management, accountability, discipline, and perseverance. Over the course of my career, I overcame numerous injuries. In my periods of rehabilitation, I learned the importance of mindfulness, positive self-talk, and the power of self-belief. I learned to accept that although I cannot control all situations, I can control how I respond to them.
Amber’s words: I was 18 years old and highly recruited. I received dozens of letters of interest from prestigious women’s basketball schools in the nation. After careful consideration, family and community were the most important drivers for me and I decided to attend college locally. While I did go on to play professional basketball internationally, the pull of family and community brought me back. Now as a deputy I have an opportunity to serve and still support my partners. While there are no more shots, assists, and blocks in my daily life, the work ethic, sportsmanship, teamwork, and commitment to excellence I developed playing basketball have provided a great foundation.
What value do we bring? The ability to push beyond limitations, a commitment to excellence, a true teamwork mentality and an intuitive balance of leadership, knowing when to follow and when to lead. We, Amanda Rego and Amber Sprague, stand with and for all the women in law enforcement who are collegiate athletes and bring value to the department.
Deputy Jessica Ricca
Rancho San Diego Station
I am a Mexican-American female who does not speak the Spanish Language. I was raised in a divorced household with a single parent who worked tirelessly to raise three children. I identify as a member of the LGBTQ community. I am a representation of diversity in so many ways.
Years ago, if I had been asked where I would be today, I could never have imagined my destination. At 16, I was an early graduate of a private high school with a 4.0 GPA. From the age of 16, I lived on my own and supported myself financially. Fast forward five years later, life took me on a rollercoaster of a ride, and I found myself homeless and living out of my car, while working two jobs. I resided in Pennsylvania at the time and had begun attending Penn State University. I was studying forensic science, and it was then that I found my passion and aspired to work in law enforcement. It was about a year later, and because of my unyielding commitment to myself, I became a first-time homebuyer.
I have been with the Sheriff’s Department for 5 1/2 years now. I am assigned to the Rancho San Diego Command where I am a Training Officer. I am also temporarily assigned to the Lemon Grove Station as a Traffic Investigator and I am currently a member of the Crisis Negotiation Team. I am where I am today not because of my successes but because of my failures and my resilience and to keep moving forward.
Every day we all are face to face with challenges and adversities. It is how we overcome these challenges that is a true display of our character. I, Jessica Ricca, stand with and for all the women in law enforcement who have failed only to discover they were ultimately succeeding.
Deputy Margarita Collins
Court Services Bureau
For the past 15 years, I have worked for law enforcement agencies. I worked as a California State Linguist for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and for the Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), and now for the last nine years, I have been here with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.
From the moment I attended a memorial ceremony I wanted to be part of the Honor Guard. When I watched Honor Guard Officers slowly marching in perfect unison, the bagpipes band playing in the background, I was called to serve and charged with emotion. I was awe-inspired by their achingly beautiful and impressively intricate tribute. Anyone who has ever witnessed a memorial service for a law enforcement officer, military personnel, or a firefighter who died in the line of duty has surely been moved by the magnitude and symbolism of this ceremonial event. Now that I am part of the Honor Guard, I carry a profoundly deep sense of duty and commitment to this calling. When I have been called upon to serve in times of tragedy, I have proven that I have the strength to withstand the overwhelming emotions.
I have been privileged to attend events in other states and cities honoring Men and Women Fallen Officers. Even though I may not have personally known the Fallen Officer, in the moments of tragedy and loss in the law enforcement community, I have an undeniable feeling of kinship with other officers.
To be able to serve as an Honor Guard member is a great privilege and I do it with the highest Honor, Integrity, Humility, and Love. To Honor and pay my respects to the lives of Fallen Officers is the reason why I will continue to serve so proudly as an Honor Guard member of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. For those of us who wear the Honor Guard uniform, being part of a funeral event is a sacred and heavy burden to bear. We perform with the utmost precision, reverence, and respect. What value do women bring to Honor Guard and our department? We bring silent strength, emotional resiliency, and healing.
I salute all our Fallen Officers. I, Margarita Collins, stand with and for all the women in law enforcement who serve.
In closing, our ability to add to our collective history has happened because of the brave and bold women who came before us. One of my mentors gave me a key chain that said, “Women Can’t What?” I carry it with me proudly to this day.
Alice Stebbins Wells was one of the first female police officers in the United States, hired in 1910. Alice, then 37 years old, was appointed as the first woman police officer with arrest powers in the United States. Alice was a graduate of Oberlin College and Harford Theological Seminary, where a study she conducted concluded there was a large need for women officers.
Alice joined the Los Angeles Police Department after a long battle of petitioning with many citizens who supported her. With such a huge community reaction, the mayor, police commissioner, and the Los Angeles City Council had no choice but to let Alice become the first policewoman in the LAPD. Wells was also instrumental in organizing the International Policewoman’s Association in 1915, and later the Women Peace Officers Association of California. Alice was named the first President of the Women’s Peace Officers Association of California in 1928.
We humbly thank the brave women who paved the way for us. Your tenacity, perseverance, and unwillingness to be excluded from the law enforcement profession, and your influence, ensured our inclusion. May we bestow the same gift to the women that follow us, and may we always be recognized for the valuable and necessary contribution we make to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.