The Officer Spotlight on Deputy Tracey Jacobs kicks off a series that will focus on an officer each month from the Rancho Cordova Police Department. Police Chief Michael Goold and Assistant Chief Kate Adams decided on Jacobs to be the first. “She’s typical of the caliber of officer that we’re lucky to have in Rancho Cordova,” Goold said. “We just want the citizens of Rancho Cordova to know the great officers that we have.”

Jacobs has worked for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department for 15 years, and for the Rancho Cordova Police Department since 2007. She was recently selected to be a full-time field training officer. She chose to go into law enforcement “because law enforcement overflows with opportunities to be a blessing to people who are in unfortunate situations. …It has also given me the opportunity to meet and raise my son, which, in turn, has blessed me beyond measure.”

She first met Dominic when she worked at the skating rink on Broadway. “Frankly, he was my biggest troublemaker,” Jacobs said. Over a period of time Jacobs’ nephew became friends with Dominic, invited him to attend church with him and his Aunt Tracey, and that became a regular occurrence.

When Dominic was about to fail 8th grade, Jacobs helped. “We had to go to tutors, and I had to get him counseling for a lot of issues,” Jacobs said, “but we got him on track and he barely made it, but he was able to walk with his 8th grade class.” Jacobs and Dominic bonded and Jacobs eventually gained custody. From being a child who almost didn’t pass 8th grade, Dominic became student of the year his first year in high school. He is now 20-years-old, in the U.S. Army, and successful.

The faith that helped Jacobs rescue a troubled boy comes with her to work. Respect is part of that, and in police/public relations, Jacobs said, an attitude of mutual respect is an important factor.

“Law enforcement officers are going to treat (a person) with respect until that person gives us a reason not to,” Jacobs said. “A lot of the bigger incidents that have happened between law enforcement and the community are from lack of compliance and lack of respect for law enforcement.”

Last December, Jacobs was at the Rancho Cordova Walmart after a live morning broadcast for a local T.V. station when she was called over by a cashier because a woman couldn’t find her wallet and thought it had been stolen. Jacobs took what she felt the simplest and fastest solution: she paid for the two carts of already rung-up items herself. That allowed the cashier to proceed ringing up purchases for the long line of inpatient customers behind. The woman later found that she had left the wallet at her house and tried repeatedly to repay Jacobs, who did not consider that to be necessary.

“That was an answer to prayer to me, to be put in a position to be able to help her,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs didn’t tell anyone at the Department about having paid for the woman’s purchases. The woman, however, ran into Chief Goold and Assistant Chief Adams at a school where she worked, and crying with emotion, told them the whole story. Jacobs ended up receiving an “unsung hero” award from the City of Rancho Cordova. The woman did eventually succeed in reimbursing Jacobs by sending the money through Jacobs’ lieutenant.

Of course a police officer’s duties are not often so gratifying. “Any homicide, and anything happening to children or the elderly is very difficult, especially abuse,” Jacobs said. “By far the most difficult call that I’ve ever been on was a triple homicide out here involving a mother and two small children that were stabbed to death.” She was first on the scene along with two other officers. “At the time, 10 years on, I thought I’d seen it all — that was pretty terrible.”

Officer Jacobs came to Rancho Cordova at the age of 6 and attended Rancho Cordova schools through Cordova High School. She studied criminal justice at Cosumnes River College and completed the rigorous training required in the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department Academy.

If she had it to do over, would she choose law enforcement again?

“Absolutely,” Jacobs said. “I only regret not doing it sooner.”