Jennifer Spieth, police officer

Her Step Forward

Originally from South Florida, Jennifer Spieth earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University in Boston. A police officer since 2003, her previous assignments have included patrol, K-9, and the Police Academy. Jen currently works on the Crisis Intervention Team with the severely mentally ill population, in an attempt to ensure this population’s service requests go to a unit trained in this area. Corporal Spieth is an adjunct police academy instructor and regularly teaches courses in Mental Health throughout the Metropolitan DC area. She also loves to travel with her husband and 3 year old daughter.

>> "Work hard despite what other people say about you, or how other people treat you, because you’ll have that satisfaction of knowing: I did the best I could, and I worked hard, and I earned that spot." <<

As a woman working in a male-dominated profession, like the police force, is it hard to get respect from your colleagues? How about from the public at large? And how do you process the stressful and dangerous situations you see daily? These were just a few of the questions we had for officer Jennifer Spieth, a 16-year veteran of the police force.
Joining us to share her story, Jennifer talks about finding surprising skills/strengths in her career, the need for self-care and changing the stigma around mental health for police officers, the need to separate work and home life, and why she and her husband make it a priority to travel internationally with their young daughter.