FORT WAYNE – A career in law enforcement was always a possibility, something Sofia Rosales thought about in high school, but she did not aspire to be a police officer.
A federal job was her goal, maybe the FBI or Secret Service. But the Fort Wayne Police Department seemed like a good first step, so Rosales reasoned after graduating from IPFW with an English degree.
She applied and was hired. Seventeen years later, Rosales believes she is on the verge of helping ink a new employment contract for city police officers as leader of the police union, the first Hispanic and second woman to hold that job.
Rosales, 39, said she expects the 357 members of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association to vote on the contract April 22.
Rosales, who took the PBA reins in November, helped the union reach a tentative agreement with city officials last week. Officers have been working under terms of an expired contract since the end of 2008, without a raise or change in benefits.
“It never occurred to me to actually be a police officer in the city,” she said. “When I got hired, I thought, ‘Well, it might be a good steppingstone to something else.’ ”
A graduate of Elmhurst High School, Rosales started work as a city police officer in 1994. She quickly fell in love with the excitement of the job.
Her first assignment was in the detective bureau investigating felonies. She got a chance to patrol city streets two years later.
“I was new,” Rosales said. “I wanted to be where the action was.”
Her older brother, Mike Rosales, a captain with the Fort Wayne Fire Department, said he was caught off-guard when his sister told him she wanted to join Fort Wayne police.
Today, the two share stories and joke about the common belief that firefighters and police officers don’t get along.
“I think one of the things she’s really trying to get a grasp on is why (firefighters) are so much closer than (police officers),” Mike Rosales said.
“We eat together. We sleep together. We go grocery shopping together.”
It is easy to see that sitting behind her neat desk at the PBA office on South Calhoun Street makes Rosales uneasy. She talks of staying busy with contract negotiations, but she’s afraid of getting bored after the contract is settled.
She describes herself as outspoken and says other officers may call her abrasive. But she respects all her co-workers.
“Personality-wise we might have issues, but I don’t think you will have anybody that says, ‘She doesn’t do her job,’ ” Rosales said.
Her motivation was instilled at a young age by her father, Frank, who owned a small business and showed his daughter what it took to be successful.
“I call it a good work ethic,” Rosales said. “I always knew how difficult it was. I wanted to do a good job.”
Her parents were both born in Texas and moved to Fort Wayne before they met. Frank came to the Summit City in search of a steady job after working with his family, who were migrant farmers. Her mother, Sylvia, came to Fort Wayne when her father got a job with International Harvester.
“I’ve always come to work, done my fair share and then some,” Sofia Rosales said. “My whole family is exactly the same way.”
It pained her to take about three months off work one winter after injuring her hand during an arrest.
On the union’s board for the past four years, Rosales was elected PBA president after spending much of her time working third-shift patrol. She also is a member of the police department’s crisis intervention team and is a hostage negotiator.
‘It opens doors’
Rosa Gerra, executive director of United Hispanic Americans in Fort Wayne, said it is important that Fort Wayne continues to have diversity within leadership ranks. Rosales’ election as PBA president, she said, is positive for the community.
“It’s a matter of trust – when Hispanics or anyone sees people who look like them – it opens doors,” she said. “The police department and fire department should be representative of the population they serve.”
There are about 20,200 Hispanic residents in Fort Wayne, or 8 percent of the population, according to the 2010 census.
Rosales said her Hispanic roots are important to her but that it was hard work and ability that helped her progress in her career.
“It is significant,” she said about being the first Hispanic elected PBA president. “I think it goes back to the department and the guys. It’s who’s best for the job, and they picked me.”
The PBA is the city’s largest union of municipal employees. It represents officers in contract negotiations and internal affairs and provides legal representation during officer-involved deaths, Rosales said.
The PBA is the lone union – out of nine within the city – without a contract. The eight other unions got a 1.5 percent raise in 2010 and 1 percent raise in 2011. No city employees got raises in 2009.
“We’re not trying to be greedy. We just want to be recognized for the good we do in the community,” Rosales said. “Unfortunately a pat on the back isn’t how you do that – it’s with compensation.”
Neither the city nor the union would release details about the tentative agreement reached last week.
Police Chief Rusty York said Rosales’ effort to meet informally to get past sticking points was a benefit in negotiations.
“She’s adjusting really well. She’s got a really good handle on what the issues are,” York said of Rosales. “She has an understanding that progress is achieved through compromise. I know I’m enjoying working with her as union president.”
Rosales said she takes a blunt, no-nonsense approach to the negotiating table. When she talks informally with York and the city’s attorneys aren’t present, more is accomplished, she said.
The dynamic between the PBA president, its board and the chief of police continues to evolve, York said.
“Sofia has got the ability to work with the board, but I think she’s taken it upon herself to take a leadership role,” York said. “There’s always going to be a degree of conflict between labor and management. It’s always been civil and constructive.”
Officer Tyree Carr has more than four years’ experience as a PBA board member and spent two more as vice president. He said he is confident in Rosales’ leadership.
“I don’t think she will concede anything that’s going to hurt us,” Carr said. “It’s going to take the city to concede some things. We’ve had these glimmers of hope over the last 2 1/2 years, and then it seems like one side pulls back.”
Going 2 1/2 years without a contract has taken its toll on the city’s officers, Rosales said.
“A lot of people perceive unions to be gluttonous and taking what they can get,” she said. “We’re just trying to find a middle ground. (Officers) feel devalued. It’s a terrible toll on your morale. It’s very disheartening.
“They’re still doing their job, and it feels like a kick in the pants.”
