Officer Betty Jo “B.J.” Dasch is no stranger to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
At 62, her service pre-dates that of her captain. But though the Sheriff’s Office knows her well, a 25-year hiatus required Dasch to revisit the same academy as any younger deputy. On Nov. 5, Dasch graduated from the academy for the second time.
The first time Dasch completed the academy was more than 30 years ago. She began her career as a dispatcher and spent time in the corrections field before she was assigned to patrol duty for St. Charles Parish. In those days, she said, policing the parish was a slightly less formal affair.
“When I was a female on the road, they handed me my keys and said ‘go be the police,’” Dasch said.
It was there that she first worked with a new officer named Patrick Yoes. Yoes now serves as a captain within the Sheriff’s Office. He said deputies today undergo “a whole lot of training before [they] ever see the inside of a patrol car.”
Dasch spent 11 years on patrol before a business venture with a new husband led her to quit the force for more than 25 years. It was the need to get out of the marriage that led her to reach out to an old friend, Yoes.
“I watched from a distance where the Sheriff’s Office was going,” Dasch said. “I knew that this is where I wanted to be – I had to get back.”
Initially, Dasch was hired as a receptionist within the Crime Victim Assistance unit. The office goes above and beyond the state-mandated assistance sheriff’s offices are required to provide victims, extending service from only felonies to every crime.
“We have a relatively low crime rate in the parish,” said Yoes, “but if you’re a victim, it’s 100 percent for you.”
Officers such as Dasch are tasked with reaching out to the victims of abuse, felonies or any other crime that gets reported to the office, and help walk them through the processes that are going to occur. The office works hand-in-hand with the investigation division.
Prior to completing the academy, Dasch was limited in what she could do to assist victims. With her graduation from the academy, she is able to perform all the functions of the office, such as filing restraining orders.
The academy does not scale its standards according to the age of the cadet, requiring the same of all applicants. Though she knew the training officers, Dasch said they did not allow her to do “female” push-ups.
“I could do five,” she said of the push-ups. “By the time I ended the academy, I could do 41.”
In addition to physical requirements, achievement of level 1 peace officer certification requires 360 hours of instruction, including a driving course, role-playing in various law enforcement situations and firearms training.
Dasch talked about the training conducted with firearms containing a detergent instead of a bullet.
“It hurts real good when you get hit with it,” Dasch said. “They don’t care how old you are…when you go through the academy, you go through the academy.”
Dasch said she took to calling one cadet “grandson.” At 24 years old, she said, he was only a year older than Dasch’s oldest grandson. Meanwhile, other cadets took to calling her “mama Dasch” and asked about her past experiences in law enforcement. She was happy to share, but warned them that she was there to learn alongside everyone else.
“I told them, you have to understand that I have to hit control-alt-delete to try to get rid of some of that stuff so the new stuff can come in,” she said.
Dasch is not the only one in her family to experience a sense of pride upon completing the academy. A parish away, in Lafourche, Dasch’s daughter graduated only a few months prior. Dasch’s older daughter also served previously for St. Charles Parish, but has since left to become a homemaker.
“I don’t think she’ll follow in her mama’s footsteps like that,” Dasch said about the likelihood of her older daughter rejoining the force. “She now lives vicariously through me.”
Yoes said the friend he met years ago continues to impress him
“Most people our age would never put themselves through such a physically demanding and emotionally challenging task,” said Yoes, “but B.J. is not most people.”
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