Stephanie Huddleston, who has been with the department for over 18 years, was named the new police chief Friday morning.
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Huddleston is the first female chief in the department's history, which dates back to 1891.
"I had several people in the community come up to me and say hey thank you for being a role model for my daughter and I am using you as an example to show her she can do anything she wants to do," Huddleston said. "It really hit me and thought hey this is big, this is big not just for me but for other female officers, for little girls that might be thinking they want to go into law enforcement."
This isn't the first time Huddleston has made history-she was also the first female sergeant in the department.
"Your coworkers see right away that as females we bring a different perspective to things. It's not the same, but it's nice to have different viewpoints and perspective," Huddleston said.
Huddleston was raised in hanford and is currently a captain with the police department.
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In her nearly two decades there she has served in every role, from probation officer to captain and soon-to-be chief.
"My biggest goal is getting our staffing up so we can improve our response times and be fully staffed to be more proactive rather than reactive," Huddleston said.
She says the department has six open positions and could be fully staffed in the coming months.
Huddleston will officially take on the role of police chief on January 22.
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