"You Can't Do That"

The Hell I Can’t

It was a horrible and frightening file. A young woman, biking home from work. Grabbed off the street. Dragged into a cemetery and sexually assaulted.

Then forced back to the suspect’s home, where he held her for hours until she seized an opportunity to flee, calling police, and guiding us straight back to where he was.

She was young, quiet, gentle. A virgin, which mattered.

As the suspect sat in our cells, I walked through the file in my mind: What we had. What was at risk. What evidence would evaporate if we waited even minutes too long. I pulled up the case law. I knew exactly what needed to be done:

We were going to swab his genitals for DNA, immediately, incidental to arrest, not with a warrant.

I knew I needed to ensure that I could physically connect the suspect to the victim. The process of medically assessing her and sending all that physical evidence off for assessment often took months to find out the results.

If I waited until then it would be too late to attempt to gather her DNA from his body. Given what she described during her interview, I was very confident that her DNA would be on his penis.

The team hesitated. “You can’t do that,” someone said.

I understood their pause. None of them had ever heard of a suspect’s genitals being swabbed after the offense.

I had not heard of anyone doing it either, but that did not mean we COULDN’T OR THAT WE SHOULDN’T.

To be honest, it was rare to have so quickly arrested the suspect. We knew the offense had happened only hours earlier and it was clear at the arrest, the suspect had not showered.

I was convinced and confident in my decision. But to alleviate their concerns, I called legal.

Laid out the urgency and articulated my position.

This was perishable evidence. Critical evidence. Evidence that could make or break the entire case.

His lawyer pushed back too. But by the time I was on the phone explaining the process to him, it was clear, we were proceeding and this lawyer could spend time in court seeking to throw it out. This was not a blood sample, we were not using a needle or causing any physical discomfort.

It was worth it.

Here’s the thing: Courage in any job isn’t always about running toward danger. Sometimes it’s standing firm when the room doubts you.

I said, “We’re doing it.” Our forensic section and an investigator attended the cells and took the swab. Exactly as the law allows, exactly when justice required it.

That evidence mattered. We ended up having DNA evidence linking the suspect to the offense from more than one sample.

Having it resulted in a guilty plea and conviction. He was held accountable.

Why I share this

Because everyone knows the feeling of having your judgment questioned the moment you step into the room with confidence.

“You can’t do that. The hell I can’t.”

That sentence followed me throughout my career. Not as defiance for the sake of it, but as a reminder that leadership sometimes means being the one willing to act.

I also came to understand that those who often disagree, shoot down your idea, fight to put you and your thoughts into a corner, often lack the courage to act and feel threatened by your ability to do so.

Don’t let them question your instinct and gut when you know in your heart what the right action to take is. Be willing to accept the results that come and then take that leap.

Over the course of my career I became known as the person who would think outside the box, push the limits of what could be done in the name of our victims.

As I said before, I knew I was doing something right when other police officers would say to me,

“Jennifer if something ever happens to me or my family I want you to be assigned the file.”

Don’t be afraid to push the limits. Do your research, ask the questions, but when you finally know in your gut what is right- then for the love of God- Just Do It.