with Intention For Such a Time as This

Sheryl D. Victorian, Ph.D. Chief of Police Waco Police Department

Early on in my law enforcement career, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to live my dream of working undercover for over eleven years and, afterward, expanding my policing resume, which has helped me to accomplish so much more. However, I will tell you, until just over two years ago, my initial career aspirations ended with being promoted to Assistant Chief of Police for the Houston Police Department. Little did I know my career path would take me where I had not considered being selected as the Chief of Police in a city where I had never lived or known anyone.

There are over 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. There are more than 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers, and less than 13% are female.

An even more startling statistic is that females only represent 3% of police chiefs, with less than .5% of those being African American females. I am proud to represent the police profession and pride myself in leading with integrity, compassion, and influence while working to humanize the badge through Relational Policing.

My “Why” for becoming a police officer developed as I matured throughout my law enforcement career. When I first became a police officer, my focus was protecting the city I served against those who broke the law. Essentially, if you broke the law, you went to jail.

Emotional capital, and Accountable to build TRUST (TREEAT) in the communities we serve.

In my journey to becoming Chief of Police, I now understand how important it is to rely on God’s Will for my life. Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that God has orchestrated each step of my life, leading me to where I am now. I learned that we must remove the limits we place on ourselves and unleash our thoughts, taking off those self-imposed limitations we place upon ourselves. In my walk of faith, I have recognized the importance of believing God will bless us, exceeding, abundantly above all we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

As God continues to open doors for me, I have expanded my reach by starting my own LLC., LEADING on Purpose, where I focus on creating intentional leaders to impact their organizations positively.

Instead, I began to understand that our role as law enforcement professionals is to reduce harm, build meaningful cooperative relationships between the police, the community, and community stakeholders, and learn from the past so that we are not destined to repeat the past in the future.

It is my belief that as law enforcement professionals, we practice being our best through Relational Policing by being Transparent, Respectful, Engaging, building if their dream is to become police professionals but to begin early by seeing themselves leading with boldness, thoughtfulness, and courage, and one who can also one day become a Chief of Police.

A quote I admire says, “Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I’m blessed to have a profession that I love dearly and one which embraces and supports my leadership for such a time as this.