When Patricia Doyle was promoted to lieutenant of criminal investigations and traffic units for the East Whiteland Township, Pa., Police Department in 2023, she was the first woman to achieve that rank in the department. The promotion came after a long career in the East Whiteland Township PD, where Doyle ’93 Lib served first as patrol officer, then as detective (investigating child abuse crimes), before being promoted to detective sergeant in 2015. She supervises 22 officers and oversees the Detective Unit, whose duties include investigating crimes such as domestic violence incidents, robberies, burglaries, and assaults.

Doyle grew up in a law enforcement family—her sister, uncle, and cousins are all police officers. After college, she did clerical work for a law firm, but she changed course to follow in her family’s footsteps, serving warrants as a constable and then entering the police academy at age 32. “I’m naturally curious,” Doyle says. “I love digging into people’s lives, their paths, and trying to figure out how and why they committed this crime.”

Though she was older than most recruits when she joined the department, Doyle says her life experience gave her an advantage, and it has been particularly beneficial when training new officers to treat people with empathy when they are at their most vulnerable.

“I ask them, ‘What qualities in a police officer would you like to see responding to one of your family members’ worst days, whether they’re a victim or a defendant?’” Doyle says.

Her time at Penn State, in particular the political science, economics, and legal studies classes she took, also helped Doyle in her career. “We had a lot of essay exams,” she says, “where you had to argue why you felt a certain way. That’s helped me with courtroom testimony and writing reports.” —Cristina Rouvalis