Cape Coral celebrates Women in Law Enforcement Month

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WINK News

In her bright blue car, Lieutenant Dina Cox hits the road in Cape Coral.

Lieutenant Cox has seen it all as an 18 year veteran with the police department. And just last year, she handled her first major incident as a Lieutenant—a plane crash in the Cape.

“It’s definitely an unusual circumstance. I’ve been a cop for almost 25 years and that’s the first plane crash that I’ve had to respond to,” Cox said. “I’d be happy if it was my only one.”

Cox is part of a small group in the department. Out of 229 officers, only 29 are women.

“I feel sometimes you have to work twice as hard to get the respect that you can do this job and it doesn’t matter if it’s a male or a female that does it,” she said.

That’s why Cox was part of the idea behind Cape PD’s Women in Law Enforcement Month.

“There’s some challenges that women face on the job or in this career path and nobody really understands that as much as another woman,” Cox said.

Cox describes it as a sisterhood of women in blue—laying their lives on the line and fighting the stereotypes, one day at a time.

“As long as you have a good heart and you work hard, you can be successful at this. A male or female has nothing to do with if you’re a good officer,” Cox said.

The National Center for Women and Policing say women make up only 13 percent of police officers across the country.

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