Donna Lind Named Woman of the Year

Donna Lind was fresh out of high school when she began working at Scotts Valley City Hall, taking notes at city council meetings. It was 1968 and she would have never guessed that the job would open a door for her to become a police officer at a time when women simply didn't go into that profession.

“The minute I started, I just knew I absolutely loved police work,” Lind said.

Her career in local law enforcement, which spans four decades, began with a job opportunity downstairs from city hall as a police dispatcher for the Scotts Valley Police Department.

"They took me downstairs and showed the radio to me for maybe a half hour and gave me a code book and said 'try to learn all the radio codes, but if you can’t, just push the microphone button and we’ll tell you what to say,'" Lind said.

Lind learned all of the police radio codes on that first day and dove headlong into learning the laws, how to shoot, and even started going undercover. She remembers being sent into a suspected drug sales house with a gun tucked into her shorts very early on in her training.  

“Nobody ever thought I looked like a police officer," said Lind, who remembers wearing plain clothes and her hair in a ponytail. "They told me to knock on the door and say I broke down and needed to use the phone, and see if I could see if there were drugs and guns in the house … that sort of thing. Of course I was in heaven thinking this is the most exciting thing.”

Lind graduated from the police academy 10 years after she began working for the SVPD, and became a certified police officer. She investigated many cases over her career, including robberies, homicides, sexual assaults, drug cases and even went undercover where she interviewed to be a prostitute.

“Women just didn’t do this job. I remember even the first call, I was told, ‘We called for a police officer.” I told them, ‘Let me see if I can help you and if you’re not happy I’ll call a male officer over. At first people weren’t used to it,” Lind said. 

One of Lind’s saving graces was her good sense of humor she says, as well as an extremely supportive chief and staff. 

 “I learned that it took a good sense of humor going in, and not trying to force your way but go in and try to win people over with your personality rather than being pushy and getting offended if they are not thinking that you are a police officer,” Lind said. 

Lind also started a Juvenile Officer Program in local schools, an educational program for students similar to DARE, but long before it existed. 

"The idea was to develop relationships with the kids. I had kids come up to me and tell me they were being molested at home because they felt safe and got to know me and they knew they could talk to me about it," said Lind, who says she is still recognized by former students who are all grown up now. "That just makes your day, makes your year.”

Although Lind retired from the SVPD back in 2006, she has remained very active in her community. She is currently the president of the Fallen Officer Foundation, which helps first responders and their families in times of need. She is also a member of the Women's Support Group, which helps people nationwide who have lost a spouse. She is also involved with the Senior Scam Prevention Program, and was asked to sit on Bill Monning's Senior Scam Prevention Panel. 

When asked what receiving the prize meant to her, Lind replied, "It brought tears, and just now when you asked me it did again. This community is my home. My mom passed away, I don’t have family here. But all through my career, everything in my life, as an adult since I've been 18, this community has been part of my life. This community is so important to me, and to have this honor ... I still can’t believe it. I'm still having trouble absorbing it."

The Community Awards will be given on Friday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m. at the Hilton Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley. Tickets to the Chamber’s Community Awards Gala are $75 each, available through the SV Chamber of Commerce at 831-438-1010 or info@scottsvalleychamber.com. Or purchase them online at the Chamber website: www.scottsvalleychamber.com.