By Ryan Christopher Grange
Ann Richey is proud to admit that she cannot stay away from the police station.
'There is something addictive about law enforcement,' Richey says.
Ann Richey is a Provo City police officer with nine years of experience. She is a former BYU student.
Richey thought she was done with law enforcement after a three-year stint as a dispatcher in Sacramento, Calif.
'I had decided I was done with law enforcement and wanted to move on to something else,' Richey said.
The change of scenery could not have been greater, she said. Richey went straight to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Soon after her return from Canada, Richey came to BYU. She studied organizational behavior and English in her one and one-half years at BYU.
The true meaning of the clich?, starving student, hit Richey hard.
'I came to Provo and I had to work, so I ended up back at the police department,' Richey said.
Richey returned to where she knew she could excel - dispatch. She quickly became discouraged because of the lack of action in dispatch.
'In dispatch you hear about all the problems, but you can''t do anything about them. I figured, what am I doing here if I can be out solving problems,' Richey said.
Richey made the transition from BYU to an extremely intense police-training academy.
'It was tough, I couldn''t do anything else besides train,' Richey said.
Richey worked regular patrols, responding to calls everywhere, for her first nine years. Patrol is tough, because an officer resolves a problem as soon as possible and then leaves for the next call, she said.
Recently, however, her job has changed slightly. Richey is now doing what she really loves - working with people to solve problems.
'Now I have the time and freedom to work with people in a certain neighborhood and see results,' Richey said.
Richey said she has a lot of associations within her assigned neighborhoods.
'People feel more comfortable talking to a cop when he is in their neighborhood every day,' Richey said.
Richey believes community help is key in reducing crime.
'We have one neighborhood that has been very active in community watches. In one year they reduced crime by 40 percent,' she said.
Richey plans on continuing her career in law enforcement.
'I may go to the detective division at some point,' she said.
Richey would like to work on child abuse cases. She feels that children are often more at ease talking with a female officer than a male officer.
Although she loves being a police officer, there are some downsides to the work, she said.
'More than regular residents, you see some real tragedies because of the decisions some people make,' Richey said.