When Vene La Gon retired from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in 2015, she didn’t slow down. She pivoted.
After 27 years in uniform — followed by several years with the U.S. Marshals Service — she stepped away from a career defined by authority, discipline and service. What she didn’t step away from was purpose.
“After retiring from a career in law enforcement, I chose to participate in senior pageant as a way to reclaim and redefine my identity beyond the badge,” she said.
That decision marked the beginning of a new chapter — one that would challenge stereotypes, deepen her advocacy work and reshape how she sees herself after nearly three decades in policing.
Life in uniform — and beyond it
La Gon began her career with D.C. Metro Police on October 24, 1988. She retired on October 31, 2015.
She spent most of her career in patrol and in the Special Operations Division, including dignitary escorts and assignments within the Traffic Safety and Specialized Enforcement Branch. There, she concentrated on pedestrian safety and child passenger safety — certifications that later led to a side gig teaching officers, nurses, doctors and engineers about keeping children safe on the road.
She describes her years in uniform with pride. But she also recognizes what the job required.
“You get lost in that uniform and badge,” she said. Years spent in that role, she explained, emphasize “authority and resilience and service” — but often leave “little room for self-expression and personal celebration.”
Policing demanded resilience. Authority. A certain hardness. Officers often meet people on what is the worst day of their lives. There isn’t always space for vulnerability or self-expression.
It wasn’t until retirement that she had room to explore that other side of herself.
Stepping onto a different stage
At 55, La Gon heard an announcement about the Miss Classic Woman of the Year for the District of Columbia pageant.
Her first thought was simple: “Oh, I can do that.”
Then came another: “I can win that.”
She did.
Since then, La Gon has won five pageants and competed at two national levels. In 2022, she was crowned Miss Senior DC. She now holds the title of Miss Senior Black America for Washington, D.C., becoming the first queen crowned in the organization’s newly added senior division.
For La Gon, pageantry is not about appearance alone. It is about confidence, discipline and presence — qualities she honed in law enforcement.
When asked whether policing and pagentry go hand in hand, she said, “It can because again, it brings that discipline and that confidence. You put on your armor, you know, that shield that you have. And then when you step on the stage, you need that confidence. That confidence is what’s going to make you successful.”
Standing on stage in front of hundreds of people requires a different kind of courage. There is no vest. No partner backing you up. Just lights, judges and vulnerability.
“Being able to express yourself in an artistic way,” she said, was something she hadn’t fully explored while in uniform.
Pageants gave her space to be creative, visible and fully herself — without shedding the strength she built over decades in uniform.
Challenging assumptions
When people hear “police officer” and “pageant queen” in the same sentence, La Gon understands the reaction.
“They’re probably thinking, how did that go together?” she said.
Female officers are often stereotyped as rigid or stern. Pageantry challenges that perception.
“We’re elegant, we’re beautiful,” she said. “And now inner beauty is just not all. What about physical beauty? It’s the inner beauty that allows you to be able to make someone’s heart smile.”
For La Gon, the two worlds aren’t opposites. They are extensions of one another. Both require confidence. Both require composure. Both demand presence.
And both, she says, are rooted in service.
Advocacy, amplified
La Gon’s advocacy did not begin with pageants — but pageants expanded it.
During her law enforcement career, she became deeply involved in domestic violence response at a time when policies and enforcement approaches were evolving. She saw firsthand how critical intervention and resources could be.
She is also a domestic violence survivor herself.
That experience shaped her empathy and sharpened her commitment to being a voice for others.
“Being able to be that voice for the voiceless individual,” she said, remains central to her mission.
As Miss Senior DC — a title sponsored through the District’s Department of Aging and Assisted Living — she became an ambassador for seniors across the city. She attended events, listened to concerns and helped connect older residents with resources.
She was recently elected president of the Cameo Club, an organization of former Miss Senior DC queens and contestants. The group supports the local and national pageants, and its members range in age from their early 60s to their mid-90s. La Gon now leads efforts to modernize the organization while preserving its community engagement focus.
“It’s fun,” she said of her full schedule. “It’s fun busy.”
Still serving
Retirement didn’t mean retreat.
La Gon now works the midnight shift as a campus police officer at Georgetown University. Within months of starting, she performed CPR on a student whose heart had stopped due to illness — something she had never done in nearly three decades with MPD.
The student survived.
Moments like that reinforce something she believes deeply: service doesn’t end with retirement.
Looking back, she sees her career with new perspective.
“When you were in it,” she said, “you just didn’t realize what was going on around you because you’re in it.”
Retirement, she says, has made life more intentional. More purposeful.
“Retirement doesn’t mean that you go home and you sit down and you wither away,” she said. “Experience life.”
Her advice to other officers — especially women nearing retirement — is rooted in the same confidence that carried her through patrol shifts and special operations assignments.
“Have that confidence that you had when you were a police officer walking the beat,” she said. “Take that same confidence and turn it inside and do the things that you want to do.”
“Step out there on faith.”
For Vene La Gon, that step led to a stage, a crown and a renewed sense of identity. Not a departure from policing — but an evolution of it.
She is still serving — just beyond the badge.
