Lieutenant Danielle Salisbury

Q: Why did you become a police officer?

Like many of us in the field, I chose to go into police work because I wanted to make a difference in the world.  I wanted to be part of the change that I wanted to see in law enforcement.  I initially pursued my degree in elementary education as I had and still do have a passion for teaching and coaching.  In the process of pursuing that degree I also had a growing interest in law enforcement and so I began taking some electives in law enforcement related classes and decided that my passion for law enforcement was something that I could not ignore.  The more that I learned about the field, the more I learned about myself that it was where I wanted to be.  I realized that my skills and passion for teaching and coaching could be even better utilized in my career in law enforcement.  Those skills have proved to be useful as a patrol officer for me but are especially important when it comes to my supervisory role in leading other officers to always strive to protect the communities that we serve and to never stop building positive relationships in those communities.

Q:  What motivates you to succeed?

My motivation to succeed is driven by my ambition to help police culture be reimagined my goal to constantly stay working towards finding new and innovative ways to better connect law enforcement to our communities.  Through developing relationships and building trust in the community, I am further motivated to represent and advocate for women in the profession both current and future.  A lot of times, if we do not see people that look like ourselves in current roles, we as a society will shy away from seeing that career path as an option which leads to poor representation of that portion of the population. Through building those relationships with our communities and a better focus on community policing and recruitment, I feel that we can reach others considering a career in law enforcement and help to create a more diverse workforce that communities can better relate to as we should strive to be a reflection of the communities that we serve.

Q:  What’s your most memorable moment on the job?

One of my most memorable moments in my career thus far was designing and bringing to life my agency’s first Pride patch.  It was an initiative that I began working on in the spring of 2021 not knowing how well it would be received, if it had ever been done before in the history of the New York State University Police, or if approval would be granted.  I have always had a love for art and design in my free time and so I set out to utilize that passion to design the patch for our agency.  The goal with the patch was to raise awareness and support for the LGBTQIA+ Community by allowing our officers and any community member wishing to show support for the initiative to purchase the Pride patches with a large portion of the purchase to be donated to the Point Foundation on behalf of our department.  Another part of the initiative was seeking the approval for officers who purchased the Pride patch to be able to wear them on their uniform shirts for the month of June to show that support during LGBTQ Pride month. The support and approval of my project pitch by both my Chief and our Commissioner was a moment that I will always treasure as well as the overwhelming amount of community support that the project has received.  It has truly been an initiative that keeps on giving as the patches are still selling to both supportive community members near and far as well as to members of law enforcement in the country as well as internationally that wanted a patch for their collections or to just show support for the initiative.  The visibility and doors that the project has opened to be able to better relate and support the community will now continue to grow every June as our agencies across New York State sport the patches.

Q:  What challenges have you faced?

One of the biggest challenges that I have faced in my career is one that the profession as a whole faces- the negativity and lack of support surrounding the field of law enforcement as a result of both mistakes made by officers in the past, on the job elsewhere, or media portrayal in a bad light. As the majority of law enforcement pursues the occupation for all of the right reasons, just like any career there will always be those that do not. Law enforcement is a tough field to be in as the challenges are constant, and the climate surrounding the field is everchanging. Often times, you are judged for the actions of the last officer that a community member interacted with before you so you have to re-establish that trust and rapport as needed, at no fault of your own. We also have to understand that all of us (including law enforcement) have past, lived experiences that effect the way we interact with others and some interactions will need to be met with much more patience than others. Regardless of the interaction, we can never take these interactions personally as our professionalism is priority and we must always set that example. I find that keeping this focus on the job really helps establish better patience off the job and in your personal life as well. Always try and find the good in those challenges.

Q:  What advice do you have for women considering a profession in policing?

We owe it to each other and the communities that we serve to go for it.  Without representation and showing support for each other, we cannot continue to break these barriers to normalize the success of women and women in leadership positions .  We have come a long way but have much further to go. Believe in yourself and never doubt what you bring to the table, because often the traits that make you different from the majority in so many ways are the ones that we need perspective from most in this field!