The Auburn Police Department in Auburn, New York has appointed its first ever female detective last week. Meagan Kalet, a long-time resident of Union Springs and a 14-year veteran of the department was appointed by the chief of police in Auburn – after the department’s 135-year history of employing only male detectives.
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Officials with the Auburn Police Department have referred to the appointment as “groundbreaking” while for Kalet, it is the culmination of a lifelong dream.
Kalet grew up on her family’s farm in Union Springs and as a result has developed a strong agricultural background that at first she says made her want to take over the family farm business and grow crops for a living.
Eventually, however, she decided that she would rather pursue a career in law enforcement and after graduating from Union Springs High School she enrolled in courses at Cayuga Community College where she studied for one year. After her one-year stint at Cayuga, she transferred to SUNY Cortland and then eventually to Rochester Institute of Technology where she graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree.
The following year after her graduation, she began working as a patrol officer with the Auburn Police Department where she spent six years before being hired on with the Finger Lakes Drug Task Force. She spent seven years with the task force where she says she was an integral part of their undercover and surveillance operations and made several high profile drug arrests.
In her new role as detective, Kalet will be required and expected to implement the skills she acquired during her time as a patrol officer and drug task force agent. Those skills, however, will be used to combat a much wider range of offenses.
She has said that her appointment to the role of detective has provided her with a “great feeling of accomplishment” for all of her years of hard work in and dedication to her career in law enforcement.