Misty Reynolds
City of Coachella Police Department
Palm Desert, CA USA
"You've gotta do what scares you the most. Just find the thing that gives you a fire inside and focus on it."
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Misty's work combines: Government, Law, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
When I first joined the police department, I was still very angry and had a chip on my shoulder. I felt like I had faced worse than the tough staff officers and criminals. I had to grow up and grow out of that mentality. Now, I use my bad life experiences to better inform my work and motivate me.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Social Sciences, General
Chapman University
Graduate Degree
Criminal Justice/Police Science
American Public University System
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Grew up with a father who was addicted to drugs and an extremely abusive stepmother, a woman who she believed to be her mother.
2.
Says she got to the point where she was actually glad when her parents did drugs because "at least they left [her] alone."
3.
As a child, she was always trying to run away, so she had a lot of contact with law enforcement, who always tried their best to help her.
4.
At the age of 18, she packed up her things into a laundry basket, got into her car, and left home forever.
5.
Decided to enter the police academy; no one there could intimidate her after what she'd been through as a child.
6.
Says she went from "that laundry basket full of clothes to a really nice husband and a really nice house...it's surreal."
7.
In 2013, her father passed away, and shortly afterwards, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
8.
She initially got angry, then had a "pity party," then finally said, "I'm not going to be the victim my whole life"; now she does yoga, takes her illness one day at a time.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I have this badge and this gun now so no one is going to mess with me ever again.
How I responded:
When I first joined the police department, I was still very angry and had a chip on my shoulder. I felt like I had faced worse than the tough staff officers and criminals. I had to grow up and grow out of that mentality. Now, I use my bad life experiences to better inform my work and motivate me.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I liked when my parents used drugs because they left me alone, they wouldn't touch me because they were to busy doing their own thing. I grew up around drugs and had a lot of law enforcement contact when I was a kid.
In 2013 my father passed away and I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
My stepmom abused me, her brothers abused me.
I am the first in my immediate family to attend college/university.