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Photos: Calif. cops shave heads in support of officer with cancer

Leslie O’Toole has been in law enforcement since she was teenager

By Police1 Staff

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — An officer diagnosed with breast cancer received a surprise when she walked into a barbershop to get a touch-up on her shave.

Leslie O’Toole walked into the barbershop Wednesday to see her colleagues from the San Rafael Police Department lining up to shave their heads in solidarity, KTVU reported.

https://twitter.com/SRPDCOP/status/862432628598652928

O’Toole has been in law enforcement since she was a teenager. She began her career as a dispatcher before she joined the department as an officer 11 years ago.

O’Toole found a golf ball size tumor while doing a self-exam. She’ll continue chemotherapy and is scheduled for a mastectomy later this year. She told KTVU she doesn’t mind talking about cancer because she “wants it to be a comfortable topic.”

Sgt. Carl Huber said the department wanted to make sure “she knows she doesn’t face this alone.”

https://twitter.com/WayneFreedman/status/862540558295744512

“If people ask about it, it will be a nice way to tell them about Leslie, and what we’re out here to do for her,” Detective Ryan de Marta said.

The department has set up a Facebook page, Warrior529, to document her journey and help raise money.

https://twitter.com/SRPDCOP/status/862438187364360192

“We are a family and I always believed it was there,” she said. “Every person has stepped up and shown it to me. I’m extremely proud to be a member of the San Rafael Police Department.”

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