2nd in command

She’s making history. Again.

Officer Erica Post, who was the first woman to serve as a full-time officer for Portland Police Department, was sworn in as assistant chief earlier this month, diversifying the department’s leadership.

Her goal as assistant chief? “Try to make it better. To build it up for the future.”

Post, who is entering her fifth year as a full-time officer, was appointed to serve in her current role by chief Josh Stephenson, who is familiar with the position.

“I did not realize the duties I would be responsible for,” said Stephenson about when he became assistant chief. He served in that role until he was appointed by Portland Mayor John Boggs to become chief this month.

Duties for Post include replacing Stephenson whenever he is off duty, purchasing equipment and general paper and computer work.

“A little bit of everything,” admitted Post, who is also involved with the department’s D.A.R.E. program in addition to her duties as assistant chief. She became a sergeant last year.

Stepping up to second-in-command in the department comes about six years after Post became its first intern in 2015. Stephenson, then a sergeant, was in charge of Post’s internship program.

A Portland native, Post completed her internship while attending Ball State University, from where she later graduated with bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and criminology and a minor in psychology.

Post’s appointment is the first move to replace the nearly half dozen officers who have retired in the past year and the impending retirement of officer Steve Schlechty in February.

One such retirement was that of chief communications officer Paula Bonvillian, who retired in January more than 30 years after she became the first woman to serve as an unpaid reserve for Portland police in 1987.

Stephenson said he should soon have a fully staffed roster to work with. He plans to present potential new hires at the city’s board of works meeting Thursday.

According to 2015 data from the FBI, less than 6% of all full-time officers in Indiana are women, just over half of the national average of 11.6% from that same database.

Stephenson stopped short of calling the assistant chief role a “fast track” to becoming chief, but if Post one day is appointed as chief, she would be among the 3% of women to lead local police departments in America, according to a study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.