Beyond the Badge – Officer Jackie Spresser

This week, we salute Officer Jackie Spresser of the Northglenn Police Department.  Officer Spresser has been an officer with Northglenn PD for 5 years, and in that time she has become a valuable advocate for citizens and a go-to asset for officers and staff.  In 2014, Officer Spresser became part of the Crisis Intervention Team and was selected as a Crisis Negotiator for the Northglenn Police Department.  In 2016, Officer Spresser became a certified Crisis Intervention Team Coach.

Officer Spresser is exceptionally skilled at working with people.  Her listening skills are excellent and she is willing to help when called upon.  In several scenarios involving a hostile citizen, Officer Spresser was able to quickly identify a strategy that facilitated communication and eventually led to understanding and de-escalation.  Officer Spresser has great confidence in her ability, but beyond that, her true empathy for people shows through.  Her ability to build rapport once barriers are removed is excellent and that is what sets her apart from other officers.

She has a true passion for helping and assisting people in crisis.  Her training, compassion, natural ability, and heart make a difference every day both on the job and off the job.  She brings true credibility to Crisis Intervention Training, Peer Support, mental health outreach and crisis negotiations teams.

When Officer Spresser is off duty, she does what she loves most, which is playing ice hockey and officiating ice hockey.  Officer Spresser has been playing ice hockey for the last 25 years and has been officiating ice hockey for more than a decade. During her time as an ice hockey official, she has worked in numerous leagues, locally, nationally and internationally.  Officer Spresser is passionate about making a difference in the sport, even when she is not on the ice.  She is responsible for scheduling other officials for youth and adult leagues, and she performs evaluations to assist in tracking and developing progress.  She is a certified instructor, responsible for training new officials at the start of each new season, and she has been the coordinator of the officiating mentor program, which is responsible for helping newer officials learn and enjoy the responsibilities that come with being an ice hockey official.  She has also played an integral role teaching at various development camps, including recent female-only camps in Colorado and California.

Officer Spresser has worked youth and college level games, to include State and Regional Championships, along with numerous youth and college National Championships.  She also works in the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation), the CWHL (Canadian Women’s Hockey League) and the recently formed NWHL (National Women’s Hockey League), the first US women’s professional hockey league.

Her career has afforded her great opportunities, including working World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, Auckland, New Zealand, and Buffalo, New York.  She officiated at the World University Games in Trentino, Italy, and she most recently officiated a 2018 Olympic Qualification tournament in Stavanger, Norway, preparing herself as an Olympic hopeful for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Officer Spresser, thank you for going Beyond the Badge!