The Islander: Police Chief Claudine O’Carroll  

Chief Forges Law Enforcement Career on South Padre Island

by R. Daniel Cavazos

Police Chief Claudine O'Carroll has risen in the ranks over a 20-years plus stint at the South Padre Island Police Department.

Driving over the Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge for the first time, Claudine O'Carroll was sure of her mission, but a bit wobbly in being at the helm of a vehicle.

It was 1997.  A brief five years had passed since O'Carroll had immigrated from Ireland.  Her native country is a place where public transportation abounds.  Learning to drive a car can be delayed after coming of age, so O'Carroll didn't secure a driver's license until arriving in the United States.

"I was a little nervous getting over the bridge that first time with my newly minted driver's license in my newly minted car," she recalled.

The sweeping view of water and land made a vivid first impression of South Padre Island, the place where she would be stationed as a Coast Guardsman.

"I remember thinking how beautiful it was," O'Carroll said.  "I was coming to work on an island where you could see the sun rise on one side and set on the other."

She joined the Coast Guard in 1993.  O'Carroll's first assignment was in Corpus Christi where she was introduced to South Texas and automobile driving.  Then it would be on South Padre Island.  Getting here would turn out to be a permanent stop.  Twenty-five years later, O'Carroll is still based on South Padre, not as a guardsman, but as the police chief of the island community.

SPI Police Chief Claudine O'Carroll and her officers often work closely with state and federal law enforcement agencies during more hectic times on the Island.

Serving in uniform and law enforcement work in particular was her career ambition.  It has all been fulfilled at the South Padre Island Police Department.  O'Carroll earned every step on her way up on a two decade-plus climb to the top job in the department.  Starting as a part-time police officer in 1999, then to full-time status, and from there to detective, patrol sergeant and captain, O'Carroll was part of administrative leadership when named police chief in 2019.

There's not a job she hasn't done or knows about in the police department she now oversees.  The only female cadet in her police academy class has an immigrant’s drive to prosper to go with the responsibility felt to show a woman can succeed in a male-dominated profession.  The latter is important to her, yes, but hiring the best candidate for jobs regardless of gender and protecting the community are paramount to her thinking and leadership.

"At the end of the day, you have to ensure you're putting the right person on the job," Chief O’Carroll said.  "You owe that to the community for its safety."

Face the of Island

The police chief and her department are coming off the busiest spring break and Semana Santa since COVID-19 rolled in two years ago.

The March/April break and holiday period is when O'Carroll's department gears up for its biggest numbers.  The volume of visitors didn't rival the tourist numbers of previous springs, but were still big enough for the SPI police department to gear up its operations.  

Police Chief Claudine O'Carroll trains her staff to see that they are often the faces of the SPI community during interactions with visitors and tourists.

The chief and her department work closely with federal and state law enforcement partners to keep close tabs on spring break crowds.  Supplemental police officers and traffic control personnel were hired.

It points to the uniqueness of operating a police department on an island where tourism drives the local economy.  The population on South Padre goes, in a handful of days, from a few thousand year-round residents to tens of thousands of seasonal and holiday visitors.  The transition is an abrupt one.  It requires the ability to adjust and gear up – quickly.  Working as a police officer on the Island means working in a community where the majority of crime victims are not local residents but visitors who will see police officers as their key connection to resolving a problem.

"Whether it's a stalled vehicle, or an accident or a car break-in, we are the face of the Island at that point," O'Carroll said of her officers and staff.  "We're dealing with everyone, not just people we know from our community, and so when your community is changing constantly, you have to adjust and change with it."

Police Chief Claudine O'Carroll is proud that 25 percent of her force is made up of women while reiterating the best candidates for jobs get selected, such as these two SPI officers who recently participated in a community event. 

Focus and Determination

O'Carroll looks back at her years on the Island and feels grateful for the opportunities given her and the backing of city leaders during her ascension in the police department.

"This city has been very good to me and supportive of my career," she said.

Female police chiefs are still a statistical sliver.  

The National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives puts the number at about 300 women who are chiefs of police, which is about 8 percent of those who serve nationally in that role.  South Padre Island has one of those female chief executives.  O’Carroll points with pride to the fact that 25 percent of her police force is female while reiterating her department hires the best person for a job opening regardless of gender.

It’s a police department that has a focused and determined chief.

"How did I handle it?" O’Carroll asked of the challenges she has faced.  "I had no choice.  I had to be up to do it in my adopted country.  I wasn’t going to fail."

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