Answering the Call: Every day brings something new, Cape County deputy says

Although television dramas about police work are what drew 30-year-old Heather Vangennip to the profession, in real life the job of an officer isn't so predictable. Every day on the job as a deputy for the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department is a learning experience, according to Vangennip. Hired on as a jailer at 21, Vangennip was promoted to sergeant in the jail a short time later. For the last seven years she's been a deputy patrolling the roads, enjoying the time she gets to interact with the public.

Question: How did you get interested in joining the Cape County crew? Was it your courses at Southeast Missouri State University?

Answer: Actually my few years at SEMO were for physical therapy. It was the complete opposite of what I was going to do. I guess the whole law enforcement thing that sparked my interest was ... I guess seeing it on TV. It wasn't the regular 9-to-5 job, where you're sitting behind a desk. It was always something new.

Q: Is the job what you expected it would be?

A: Yes, it is. I meet a lot of people that I normally wouldn't have met if I would have had any other job besides this one. ...

Even though it's been seven years there's always something new. Every day is a different day. Sometimes we may deal with the same thing or the same people but every day is a different day, every day somebody new comes into your life that you have to deal with -- whether it be good or bad. Ten years from now I'll still be learning.

Q: What's the most difficult part of your job as deputy?

A: Trying to handle the stress. Stress management and you just got to learn once you leave work that you need to put it all behind you until the next day otherwise it consumes you.

Q: Does family, other staff help with stress management or how do you deal with it?

A: We all are actually pretty close. We all get along pretty good. It's nice because -- yeah, I have family, but sometimes people who don't work in this job don't understand what really goes on. And some things you can't talk to [family] about and some things you can and sometimes that scares them. When you work with the group of people I work with, you can talk to them, and we kind of vent amongst ourselves, because they know what is going on.

Q: Do you ever feel like you're a "woman in a man's world"?

A: When I first started, honestly I was nervous because being a female it was always shown as man's world in law enforcement. Do I feel that here? No, I don't. I feel that I'm pretty equal. It's not necessarily in how strong you are or how physical you are, it's more in the way you can talk to people, and so I think it's all on an even balance now. It's about communicating with the person you have to deal with on your call. Honestly, it has it advantages, too. Being a female sometimes you'll deal with people and they may want to talk to you more so then the male that's on scene with you.

Q: Can you give me an example of when you've felt like you've had that advantage?

A: Sometimes on domestics the female may be more willing to talk to another female more so than the male. It's the same in sexual assault cases. If something happens to a female, she may not be willing to open up about the experience that has happened to her because of embarrassment. It just depends because there's been times that a male that we're dealing with doesn't want to talk to the other male officer that is with me. He'll want to talk to me. I think it's just a comfort thing because of maybe the sister or the mother role, whatever it may be. People may view females more compassionate, more so than males, even though that may not be the case.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish in your career?

A: I would like to retire from here. Hopefully one day I'll have some sort of rank here at Cape County. It's a very good opportunity that I can have here as far as being able to gain some kind of seniority here.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

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