Joyce LaPointe sworn in as Costa Mesa Police’s first-ever female captain
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans — that seems to be the case for Joyce LaPointe, who came to Costa Mesa in 1987 to become a physical therapist and wound up making local history instead.
On Wednesday, LaPointe, 52, participated in a virtual swearing-in ceremony where she became the first female captain to serve in the Costa Mesa Police Department, a second in command to Chief Bryan Glass himself.
That officious moment was the culmination of a decades long career with the department that saw her rise through the ranks — from officer to corporal in 2002, to sergeant five years later and to lieutenant in 2015.
But that esteemed career, something LaPointe will tell you now has been a passion and a calling, might never have been had her original plans borne fruit.
After graduating in 1991 with a kinesiology degree from Vanguard University, and out of a desire to possibly treat athletes on the sidelines, LaPointe began working part time at a physical therapy office. But she still needed full-time work and so found employment at Costa Mesa High School.
She worked as a campus security officer by day and an athletic trainer in the evenings. LaPointe admits she was a bit of a pushover at first, until seasoned security officer Fred Morgan gave her some valuable advice.
“He told me, ‘You need to learn how to talk to people, conduct investigations and guide interviews,’” she recalled. “He said the most powerful thing you can do is build relationships and learn people’s names.”
A dutiful LaPointe heeded the advice and spent the next five years engaging with every person who came to Costa Mesa High, including police officers from CMPD’s gang unit — who worked on campuses in the ‘90s like school resource officers do today. They were the ones who suggested the security officer consider a career on the force.
“I went on a few ride-alongs, and the next thing I knew, I was hooked,” she said. “It just took me in a new direction — it was something you feel in your heart, where the lightbulb clicks on and you think, ‘Now I know what I’m supposed to do with my life.’”
LaPointe was hired by the Costa Mesa Police Department and entered the Orange County Sheriff Training Academy in 1997. Six months later, she was working as a patrol officer.
Over the course of the next two decades, the Costa Mesa resident learned the ins and outs of the department. She gained field experience on patrol, bike patrol, as a field training officer, traffic officer, defensive tactics instructor and tactical flight officer.
“Besides her primary responsibilities, she gained a wealth of experience in a variety of different collateral assignments we had, building that depth that she now possesses and has carried through up through her positions and ranks,” Glass said in Wednesday’s ceremony.
In 2000, LaPointe received a Century Award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which recognizes officers who make more than 100 DUI arrests in a single year — she and her partner arrested over 230 offenders.
One constant in her career path was LaPointe’s expertise at and love for training, whether as a field training officer or in a supervisorial capacity.
“I still look back on those days as probably one of my fondest memories,” she said. “I was passing on the mission and values of our police department.”
As captain, LaPointe will oversee the Support Services Division, which includes the Investigative Services Bureau, Records and Evidence Bureau, Telecommunications Bureau, and the Office of Emergency Management — it’s a position no female officer has ever held in Costa Mesa.
But it’s a pathway that seems custom-made for LaPointe, who is always finding new and bigger ways to serve the city she calls home.
“I’ve loved the journey, my career and the people I work with,” she said. “I wouldn’t have done things any differently.”
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