Overcoming the walls of stereotypes is tough, especially for Hispanics. However, it seems our country is slowly evolving to a more tolerant and accepting one, allowing females to attain high positions in male dominated professions.

Chief Teresa Ramon, with nineteen years of law enforcement experience, enjoys her job as the chief of police for Judson ISD. Despite her busy schedule, she still finds time to give back to the community.

One of her job duties is to ensure a safe and secure environment for all JISD properties, which includes school campus and district facilities.

“[It was an] opportunity of a lifetime,” Ramon said.

In the beginning of her career, Ramon started off in the Alamo Community Colleges as a dispatcher, where she was given an opportunity to go to college. Ramon received an Associates in Criminal Justice. She later enrolled in the police academy, graduating in 1995.

After working 9 months at San Antonio Police Department as a 911 dispatcher, Ramon searched for positions available for police officers. One came up in the Northside ISD police department, where she worked roughly six years.

In 2003, Ramon transferred to Judson PD as project coordinator, teaching sixth graders about culture diversities, making good choices, and ultimately giving those students an opportunity to work with their campus officers.

From there, Ramon became lead officer, corporal and a sergeant.

“It’s great and it’s taken a while,” Ramon said. “It’s taken me some time to still feel the effect of being one of 32 females in the state of Texas that are police chiefs.”

On November 22, 2010, Ramon was announced as chief of police, becoming the first Hispanic female in Bexar county to attain this position.

“It took some time, but me being me, always networking and making people feel comfortable around me, it didn’t take too long for people to understand that, yes, there was a female in this position,” Chief Ramon said.

It took some time to get her feet wet and let everyone know that she could handle the job. However, she overcame everything, with the great support of the administration and the superintendent.

And today, the new superintendent, Dr. Montoya, a reserve peace officer in the state of Texas, is fully supportive of our chief of police.

“[Having] a supervisor that understands law enforcement makes our job a little bit easier,” Ramon said.

The police department is family oriented, always taking care one of another. Although Ramon sometimes has to say no to certain decisions, her decisions are always in the best interest of everyone.

Her job is difficult – she cooperates with police departments in Kirby, Converse, Selma, Bexar County, Universal City, Cibolo, San Antonio and Live Oak.

This year, Ramon established a new elementary patrol program, where all the elementary schools in the area are divided into four sections and one officer is assigned protect a cluster of four elementary schools. Officers assist traffic control, check campus, meet with parents, provide resources, and with this new program, the officers would have faster response time.

“We’re well rounded and diverse group,” Ramon said. “Many officers stay late. We appreciate their families. We just work hard and strive for the best for JISD and the community.”

Personally, Ramon is a big Fiesta enthusiast, collecting all the medals and passing them out to others, trying to spread the Fiesta spirit wherever she goes. She also enjoys fishing on weekends and even competes in fishing tournaments with her family.

Ramon has a 23-year-old daughter, a Judson alumni, who works in East Central ISD, working her way to go through the police academy herself. Her husband, Joseph Ramon, is the DA instructor at the alternative school.

“[I feel] honored,” Ramon said. “I try to do the best that I can.”

Being a part of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 4676 in Universal City, Ramon is the auxiliary president while her husband is commander, doing a lot of community service for the veterans in San Antonio.

Another project she is a member of is the Fisher House at Fort Sam Houston, helping the foundation raise money for wounded warriors. Ramon is also the treasurer and the third vice-president for the Hispanic American Police Command Officer’s Association.

“I always say life’s too short [and although] there’s never enough time to get everything accomplished,” Ramon said. “But with the help of others, we try to get others involved, to give back to the community.”

Despite her busy schedule, Chief Ramon always tries to give back to the community, believing that something always positive will return. Her message to students is to stay in school, stay out of trouble, and when in doubt and need someone to talk to, they need to look to their counselors or trusted teacher. There are people out there to help them make positive choices because as cliche as it sounds, every reaction has a positive and negative consequence that can affect your life in the future.