by ANITA FERGUSON, Associated Press
OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) - When Bernadette DiPino was appointed acting major of the Ocean City Police Department, she politely exchanged the police department’s insignia for the one her father wore, an homage to a family history in law enforcement that spans four generations.
The recent promotion from lieutenant makes DiPino, 38, a front-runner to replace Chief David Massey, who will retire Oct. 1. She’ll remain in the post until Ocean City officials complete a national search for other candidates for the chief’s job.
DiPino joined the department in 1988 after nearly three years with the Baltimore County Police Department. She was the first female sergeant and first female lieutenant in the more than 100-year history of the Ocean City department.
She now could become the department’s first female police chief, commanding 96 full-time officers and another 100 seasonal officers.
Her father’s oak-leaf insignia on her uniform reminds her how she came to join the police force.
Her father, Charles DiPino, served 30 years with the Baltimore City Police Department, as did her grandfather, James. DiPino’s great-grandfather was once a New York City police officer.
She realizes it sounds like a cliche, but DiPino said the desire to help others drove her toward law enforcement, though her father didn’t always approve.
“But I knew as a police officer I could really make an impact,” DiPino said. “I can protect the old, the young, the vulnerable.”
She talked about the challenges of police work, particularly her rookie year on the Baltimore County force when she found and returned a lost child to the mother.
“I was so excited to find her,” DiPino said. “But the mother didn’t even thank me.”
Her father, the man she considers her greatest mentor, offered advice she has kept throughout her career.
“He said, ‘The job is not about hearing thank you. It’s about self-satisfaction. If you feel good about what you’re doing, you’ll be successful,”’ she said.
Still, she says the occasional gratitude is worth the wait.
DiPino recalled the time a woman she arrested on drug charges later thanked her for changing the course of her life.
“It made me feel really good,” she said.
Achieving her goals was not always easy. For four years, she juggled parenting while going to college and working full-time as an Ocean City officer. In 1995, she graduated from Salisbury University with liberal studies degree that concentrated on political science, sociology and literature.
“I learned to prioritize my time,” she said.
DiPino is perhaps most proud of attending the FBI National Academy for three months last year, as her father once did.
“That was a career goal and dream,” said DiPino.
During her 14 years as an Ocean City officer, DiPino has tackled a number of challenges. She has commanded the community policing unit, which includes the mounted patrol, bike officers and noise control unit.
Until her promotion, she was commander of the services division, and for four years has been commander of the town’s quick response team, a unit she’s served on for a decade.
“I think I’ve worked in every division on every shift,” she said.
Among her awards is the American Legion Baltimore County Police Officer of the Year in 1987. She was also the officer of the year in 1997 for the Mid-Atlantic Association of Women in Law Enforcement.
Though law enforcement continues to be a male-dominated world, DiPino said being a woman has neither helped nor hindered her career.
“I would not have wanted to get a position because I’m a woman, and I don’t think that I have,” she said. “In any occupation you always have to prove yourself, and that’s what I have tried to do.”
On the night she received her promotion, Massey praised DiPino as an officer who has had a “career of excellence” in law enforcement, breaking every barrier on merit alone.
DiPino thinks she’s made her family proud by continuing the tradition in law enforcement. Recently her 19-year-old daughter, Tabitha Hays, said she’s considering following in her mother’s footsteps. DiPino now understands her father’s hesitance concerning her own career.
“You always worry if your child wants to go into police work,” she said. “But I’d support her in whatever she chooses to do.”