June 18, 2023
WoEgypt

On May 24, Egyptian American Sarah Shendy was sworn in with the Case Western Reserve University police department, to serve and protect the more than 12,000 students and 3,600 staff members on campus. 

Sergeant Sarah Shandy has been serving with the police department for 14 years and was appointed in 2020 as Director of Ohio’s Office of Law Enforcement Recruitment by Governor Mike DeWine.

Nemes Creative Photography

She lived in Egypt and Saudi Arabia before moving to the United States with her family in 1990, at age 6, where her father obtained his PhD in polymer chemistry at The University of Akron in 1992. Her mother is an Arabic teacher in one of the local schools, catered to the Arabic community in in Beachwood, Ohio.

After she graduated from Kent State with a bachelor’s degree in justice studies, she enrolled into Kent State Police Academy to become a law enforcement officer.

“I want to be an example for every little girl, especially girls from minority communities. Representation matters.” — Sarah Shendy 

photo (c) Mark Durdak

At first, her parents were not happy about her decision. Nonetheless, they accepted her decision and supported her. After graduating from the police academy, she first worked as a corrections officer for a juvenile detention center.  In 2012, she earned a master’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in global issues from Kaplan University. In the same year, she developed an independent training program to guide police officers on diversity and how to interact with Middle Eastern and Muslim communities.

While working for the Police Department, she was recruited as a Law Enforcement Training Officer for the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, where she taught from 2016 to 2020.

In 2017, she received the 40 Under 40 police award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Officer Shendy was the only police officer from Ohio, and the only Arab-American officer to receive the award in a ceremony that included 15,000 police officers from around the world.

In June 2020, she was selected by Ohio’s governor, Mike DeWine, to become the first director of the Office of Law Enforcement Recruitment. 

Officer Shendy not only works hard to empower other women in law enforcement to reach their potential through mentoring programs, but she also encourages women and minorities to join the profession.