By Scott Brinton
That same year, the department was under court order to hire 10 other female officers who were previously denied jobs because of their gender, along with more African-American and Hispanic officers, who were also underrepresented in the department.
Police work, O'Callaghan said, "was never seen as a career for women, and very few women were on patrol."
How things have changed.
Today women comprise about 10 percent of the 2,650-member force. And O'Callaghan, who grew up in Bellmore, was recently named chief of department -- Nassau County's top cop, responsible for oversight of all officers and detectives as well as 1,300 civilian clerical workers. She must also review the department's $500 million budget, which includes line items not only for police, but also EMTs and crossing guards.
O'Callaghan, 54, is now the highest-ranking woman in the department's 84-year history. Previously, Joan Yale, who joined the force in the late 1960s and retired two years ago, had risen to chief of detectives.
Seated at her large, unadorned desk at police headquarters in Mineola, with a widescreen TV flashing photos of Nassau's Most Wanted across from her, O'Callaghan said, "I'm just so thrilled to be here. We want to maintain the low crime rate." The force, she noted, will have to do that more efficiently, because the ranks of police officers have been reduced over the years owing to budget cuts. "I'm confident with the caliber of people we have in the department, that will be easy," she said.
Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, who was appointed by the county executive, said that having a woman at the helm of the department is "a great thing." Mulvey believes it will encourage young women not only to join the department, but also to strive to move up through the ranks. But Mulvey, who selected O'Callaghan as police chief, was quick to note, "I picked the most competent, capable police officer to fill the job, who happens to be a woman."
O'Callaghan has served at precincts across Nassau County, on foot or car patrol, from Levittown, Farmingdale and Wantagh to Woodbury and Plainview. She said she loved her work as an officer, and later as a sergeant, detective and eventually detective lieutenant and captain. She almost did not become an officer, however.
Her late father, John, was a New York City police officer, but, O'Callaghan said, he never brought his work home and never insisted that any of his four children follow in his footsteps. Her brother Kevin, of Bellmore, is a mechanic. Her brother Brian is a musician, and another brother, Sean, is a restaurant manager.
O'Callaghan grew up attending St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Church in Bellmore and playing basketball and softball under the watchful eye of her mother, Lois, whom she described as the "rock" of the family.
O'Callaghan earned a master's in criminal justice from C.W. Post. She was considering a career in law, but she entered the police academy. To this day, she distinctly remembers her first call as a young officer, a domestic dispute that she helped to settle amicably. "When I left that scene, I realized you can make an impact on people's lives," she said.
Being a woman on a nearly all-male force, however, presented its share of challenges. O'Callaghan said she constantly felt the need to prove herself to her male counterparts. Breaking up a bar fight, she said, went a long way toward showing the men that she belonged.
"It made sense that it would take time for women to be accepted," she said. "There was an adjustment period. We had to try harder not to make mistakes. You were a female first."
O'Callaghan rose through the ranks quickly in recent years. Until being promoted to captain, she had to pass a series of grueling civil-service exams to move up. She said she spent most vacations and many weekends studying for the tests. After she became a captain, she was promoted to commanding officer of the police academy for a year and a half, commanding officer of patrol precincts, and assistant chief of homeland security and counterterrorism for a year before ascending to the chief's office.
Lois O'Callaghan said her husband "would have burst his buttons" to see his daughter reach the top of the county Police Department. "He was just so proud of her when he was alive," she said. "He couldn't say enough about her in praise."
Lois said that having women in the officers' ranks is a good thing for the police department. "Women have a different perspective on a lot of things," she said. "It's not the old-boy network anymore."
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
