NBPD Spotlight — S1, E5: “Part of me wanting to be a cop is like… Just be the change you want to see”

I’m Ofc. Nicole Rodriguez, I’m originally from Caguas, Puerto Rico, but my family packed up and moved to New Bedford around 2001, so I basically grew up here in the North End and i’ve been with New Bedford since 2022.

 

Usually, people always ask me why I wanted to be a cop and honestly, I don’t have a super fancy answer, it was more of a decision I made out of spite because people would tell me, “Oh you can’t be a cop, its not really for females,” and I was like, “Oh, okay, I’ll show you that I can do it,” and I’ve always been the type of person to just kind of try to prove people wrong.

I joined the Army right out of high school in 2017, so it’s been around seven years and really, I joined because I didn’t want my dad to have to pay for my school, because growing up I barely saw him, because he would work nights and stuff to try to support me and my brother and our family.

Shortly after I got with New Bedford, I had to deploy for a year…I made really good friends, shout out to 3126 Aviation — I love you guys forever.

When you’re a cop, it might be just a regular Tuesday Morning day shift for you, but you’re responding to someone’s worst day, and being able to help guide that person to probably having a better day, is the most satisfying part of being a cop that I can say so far.

Besides out of spite, part of me wanting to be a cop is like, just be the change you want to see. At least when I go to calls, if you treat people with respect, that’s all that matters.

“The cars registered to him, it is him, and everything looks good,” Ofc. Rodriguez said to a driver during a traffic stop. “You’re all set man, thank you so much, I appreciate you.”

I really have my dad to thank for me being able to pursue what I wanted; if I needed something he’s like, “Okay Nikki, I got you.” he would go to my basic training graduation, any little accomplishment I did, he would always be so proud of me. Having that support means the world to me, because I truly would not be able to do it without him.

After coming home from deployment, I managed to get promoted into our Juvenile and Family Services Unit as a detective, and for that type of work, it’s important — especially to be a part of the community, interact with people who live in the City, because it’s part of my job to talk to everyone and try to figure out what’s going on, and thats part of being a detective.