“I would do it all again” | HPD’s ‘Mama Bear’ hangs up badge after almost four decades in the police force

HOUSTON. When Tinsley Guinn-Shaver signed onto the line, she still couldn’t believe she had agreed to retire from the Houston Police Department.

The 60-year-old Houston native sat in her corner office on the 7th floor of HPD’s downtown headquarters as a human resources representative walked her through the paperwork that makes retirement official.

“It is my obligation to retire,” the police commander said, holding up a piece of white paper. “Difficult. It’s the hardest.”

The end of an era with a wave of a ballpoint pen.

“I was afraid of this moment,” Guinn-Shaver said, answering the prompts on the paper. – Indeed there is.

Guinn-Shaver recalls walking into the Houston Police Department on April 26, 1980. While still in high school, she worked as a dispatcher. On her father’s advice, she asked her boss if she could come early and stay late. At this point, she established the work ethic that would follow for the next four decades.

In December 1982, Guinn-Shaver was among six cadets who graduated from class 110 at the Houston Police Academy. Women in law enforcement were so new that all six cadets were located in the front row in the class photo.

“When I first started, women didn’t have as many opportunities to move” or get promoted.

Guinn-Shaver worked in the city jail. She later patrolled Houston on the night shift. She was stabbed and stabbed in the back while responding to an attack in the parking lot of an apartment complex when she was under 25 years old. This injury could have been prevented if the officer had been wearing body armor. But at that time they were not available to female officers.

While working undercover in the narcotics department, a Houston police officer slit her throat and was robbed.

She first fired her weapon while on duty during a traffic stop in 1990 involving a prison escapee.

“That’s when everything changed,” said Guinn-Shaver, who still remembers the experience, which police commonly refer to as “critical events.”

“It was a white man. 45 years. I remember.”

She will never forget a headbutt in the face. Foot chase. He grabbed her flashlight.

“He waved. He swung her around like a baseball bat, which broke her head. Broke her teeth.

– I say: “Please.” I draw my pistol. I said, “Please don’t make me do this. Please don’t make me do this. Please don’t make me do this,” Guinn-Shaver said before pausing to catch his breath. “And he wouldn’t. And I pulled out a gun. And I fired once. And he fell.”

According to Harvard University, she became one of the first female officers in the country to participate in the fatal shooting. The Ivy League College contacted Guinn-Shaver after the fatal shooting and asked that her story be documented so that professors could create a curriculum for women in law enforcement.

She shares her experience and what she learned in the months and years that followed with cadets and other officers.

Her vulnerability and compassion is one of the reasons officers working alongside the police commander affectionately refer to her as “Mama Bear”.

Guinn-Shaver’s career profile also mentions that she “even prevented her own murder by raiding a local illegal watering hole and taking her would-be assassins into custody.”

In January 2005, she was promoted to the rank of sergeant. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in leadership and was promoted to lieutenant in October 2013. In March 2017, Guinn-Shaver was promoted to commander.

A few months later, she successfully led the evacuation of Central Patrol Station during Hurricane Harvey.

“This job was such a blessing, I would do it again and again.”

Reflections on approaching retirement as the 42-year-old HPD veteran signed on the dotted line.

“My whole life. Since I was 18. Now I’m 60. My whole life is here,” Guinn-Shaver said, looking at the souvenirs, gifts, awards and accolades that fill her office. “My relationship. My passion. My heart. It’s all here.”

She is in command of HPD Robbery until Friday 5:00 pm.

She mentored, trained and supported countless officers. She hopes to continue to “lift” others into retirement.

“We all have a responsibility to lift the spirits of those around us.”

In her last week with the Houston Police Department, holding a photograph of herself as an officer at the age of 22, Commander Tinsley Guinn-Shaver can’t help but think and say to her younger self, “Well done, kid. ”

Over four decades of near-death experiences, professional and personal growth, harsh weather, and “I’d do it all again” milestones.

RELATED: ‘You can fight crime, you just can’t fight father time’: Houston police sergeant reflects on work as he retires at 41

Melissa Correa on social networks: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram