Lady in Blue: A Glimpse Into the Job of Public Safety Officer, Tami Pissott.
Her long brown hair, bright, white smile and back from the beach tan would allude one to believe she were a sorority girl and not a Public Safety officer but Tami Pissott has been breaking down these stereotypical images all her life.
“I’ve always been a member of the boys club,” Pissott said. “I’ve always been an athlete. I played soccer for 20 years and before there were girls’ leagues I played with a bunch of boys.”
In an occupation where many believe that a tough exterior, especially among women, is the only way to succeed let alone survive, Pissott believes otherwise.
“I’ve seen it on the street and it’s not just the female officers. A lot of male officers try to be tough in front of the other officers but I’ve never had to be like that,” Pissott said.
As far as dealing with the rowdy, drunken college students Pissott must sometimes arrest…
“Students respect me. The people on the street, the people I pull over respect me. I’m not the most intimidating at times but I’ve never had a problem,” she said.
Pissott’s personal motto for her job is founded on respect and staying true to herself.
“For the job, if you give respect you get respect, I’ll always be who I am and not change it for anyone.”
Major Joe Grant has worked with Pissott since her career at Public Safety began.
“Tami has been with us for almost two years now and she’s just a great asset to the department,” Grant said. “She’s done a great job for us.”
A regular day on the job for Pissott includes patrolling the campus grounds on foot or by car, issuing traffic tickets, locking the buildings at night, participating in road blocks and getting to know the students, for whom her passion for civil service shines.
Officer Michael Baker has worked with Pissott and talked about her relationship with the students.
“She’s a
Pissott says the biggest challenge of her job is seeing students make bad decisions that end up costing them dearly.
“The hardest thing I have to deal with are repeat offenders where you arrest the same kid two and three times for driving under the influence,” she said. “We actually had one fairly recently that was intoxicated and was driving and wound up killing the passenger of the vehicle.
“That’s very difficult to deal with,” Pissott said. “It’s very scary, I’m afraid to lose any of the students.”
Pissott’s job can be very rewarding as well, especially when students realize how vital the decisions they make really are.
“When you take someone to jail and they’re actually telling you while you’re dropping them off ‘Thank you, this is an eye opener for me,’ that’s just huge,” Pissott said. “I think any officer that has somebody come up to them and thank them for doing their job and says it’s changed their life is touched.”
Pissott says she loves her job but she also looks forward to a bright and successful future in law enforcement. She recently applied for a position with Georgia State Patrol and has dreams of perhaps one day working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Apr 25 2008. Filed under News.
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