Royalton
She also has risen to top ranks within the agency.
Kessler, 44, was recently selected as commander of the Royalton Barracks, becoming only the third woman in state history to command a field station.
Kessler, a Windsor County resident, is currently the only woman to hold one of the 10 positions.
“I feel like I have been really fortunate,” Kessler said in an interview on Friday.
The two prior women to hold such posts were Lt. Dee Barbic at Williston and Lt. Jocelyn Stohl at Rockingham, both of whom have retired from the Vermont State Police.
“She is very well qualified to be a station commander,” Stohl said on Friday. “And I believe she has the respect.”
Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew Birmingham seconded that.
“She is an incredibly valuable member of the command staff and she has proven herself over the years,” said Birmingham, who grew up in West Windsor. “She is incredibly professional and we have a lot of confidence in her. It only made sense that she would be a great fit to run the Royalton station.”
Kessler graduated from the Vermont Police Academy in 1997 and started her career as a trooper at the Bradford Barracks. She then transferred to the Royalton Barracks, where she was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2008 and detective sergeant in 2013.
Throughout the years, she worked for the DUI team, became the first woman to serve on the Scuba Team and joined the Crash Reconstruction Team, which she still has a hand in. She has worked many cases, including the fatal shooting of Scott Hill in Bethel in 2011.
In 2015, she was promoted to lieutenant and took on different duties working for state police’s Support Services Division, which is commanded by another high-ranking female officer, Maj. Ingrid Jonas, who is the first female major in state history. Kessler also has directed the state police’s Office of Professional Development, leading recruiting hiring and training initiatives in the state.
Having worked in Waterbury or Pittsford for the past several years, Kessler said she is happy to shorten her commute and return to her home turf.
As commander, Kessler will oversee operations at the barracks. She also will work with local officials and residents to address public safety and law enforcement concerns in the area, according to a news release announcing her position.
She just started in her role last week, and said she isn’t yet sure what issues she will make a primary focus.
Women in Police
Nowadays, life as a high-ranking female police officer is “probably not that much different” than a male officer, Kessler said.
Vermont State Police doesn’t differentiate job positions based on gender, and all troopers within the same rank are asked to perform the same duties.
“It is not a traditional female role in any way, shape or form,” she noted.
But perhaps that is changing, said Stohl, a Randolph-area resident who was one of eight women in the force in 1985.
Now 11 percent of Vermont State Police officers, or 32, today are women.
Regardless of gender, the job can come with challenges, Kessler and Stohl said.
New troopers have to adapt to a difficult schedule that oftentimes comes with unattractive shift hours.
Kessler said women shouldn’t be any more discouraged than men to try to start a family and pursue a difficult career.
“It is doable,” said Kessler, a mother of two. “It is all how you manage it.”
The first woman joined Vermont State Police roughly 42 years ago.
Vermont State Police, with the help of Kessler and Jonas, have been working to increase the number of women officers in the state.
Doing so has been difficult though because of a shrinking applicant pool, something that is true for both men and women applicants, Jonas said.
“Recruiting in general for police agencies has been very low nationally,” she said. “We want to diversify our force on many levels, certainly by gender.”
Both Stohl and Kessler said they hope more women pick policing as a career in the future.
“We are compassionate and professional just like the good male officers,” Kessler said. “There is just no reason that women should limit themselves.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com 603-727-3248.