North Las Vegas police chief picked for FBI leadership seminar
When North Las Vegas Police Chief Pamela Ojeda began her law enforcement career over 20 years ago, she was one of about six women in the department, she said.
She started as a dispatcher and climbed the ranks, becoming an officer years later.
Today she’s chief, and in January she was selected as one of 52 from across the country to participate in the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar, or LEEDS, a program created by the FBI in 1981 that includes two one-week seminars focusing on discussions about leadership, strategic planning and policing best practices.
Together, participants discuss policing practices in their jurisdictions and exchange information on ways to improve issues they face in their communities.
“Two of the biggest concerns were crime and recruitment,” Ojeda said. “Everyone across the country is feeling the same impact of trying to recruit qualified candidates. A big discussion on that was: How are we doing recruiting? What’s our standards? We’re on the right track here but we’re still working on recruiting faces we see in the community… more women in our rank.”
Of the 52 chiefs there, four were women, Ojeda said.
“It’s interesting because of course I’m proud that I’m sitting amongst these people but still, there’s only four,” Ojeda said. “So I was really proud to be a part but it’s still such a low number — less than 10 percent. We’ve come a long way I think, but we still have a long way to go.”
Ojeda finished the first week of the program in April in Quantico, Virginia, and will head off for the next cycle from August 5-9 in Charlottesville, Virginia. She was nominated for the program by the local FBI office.
“We have known Chief Ojeda since approximately 2008,” said Sandra Breault, a representative with the local FBI office. “Chief Ojeda was nominated due to her outstanding work ethic within law enforcement as well as with her community. She’s extremely dedicated to working with the FBI as exhibited by her commitments to our task forces as well as her dedication to serving as President on the FBI National Academy Alumni Association.”
Ojeda said the program was eye-opening and a valuable learning experience. She plans to bring what she learned back to the North Las Vegas Police Department.
“It was exciting to learn that we all have the same issues going on,” she said. “We all do the same job no matter where we’re at. No matter where you come from. I’m hoping I’m fortunate enough to just continue on with all of it. Because I bring that back to our department — our community. You’re not going to get that anywhere else.”
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