“I fell in love with it,” she said on starting out in law enforcement. “And there was a switch and it immediately came on that that’s what I had to do.
Chief Allison didn’t know she wanted to be in law enforcement when she started her career.
28 years later, she is announcing her retirement at the end of the year, as police chief for the CPPD.
She has served as chief there since 2012.
“I’m going to miss the people, whether it be the community, whether it be the people I work with,” Chief Allison said. “I work with amazing people everyday, true heroes. That’s what I will miss. I love our community, I love serving this community.”
She said she feels fortunate to have served as police chief in the city she grew up in, as not everyone is able to do that.
Making it even more special, is that for much of her decade as chief, Allison she was the only female police chief in the Rogue Valley.
“I think what was really fulfilling as being a female police chief is that you brought a different perspective to it,” she said. “But also brought safety, you brought confidence, you were able to do all of the same things.”
Chief Allison began her career as a reserve officer for the Phoenix Police Department.
She would later join CPPD in 1998.
But the chief said now is the right time for her to step away.
“The department is in such a good place,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t get these opportunities to have this succession plan knowing that it’s the right time.”
Chief Allison’s last day will be December 31.
As for what’s next, currently, the chief is an adjunct professor at Southern Oregon University.
She plans to continue teaching, while possibly heading back to school for a law degree.
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