Audrey Laczko has been on the road as a Moniteau County Deputy Sheriff since last September.
She was commissioned as a law enforcement officer on Dec. 9, 2013 and served as a jailer for Moniteau County until a road position opened up. She is a Dec. 15, 2010, graduate of the Law Enforcement Training Academy (LETI). She currently resides in Tipton.
The sheriff's department uniform is not the first she has worn. Laczko, originally from Holts Summit, joined the military at age 18, and served six years in a National Guard Aviation uniform. Stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Knob Noster, her main work was as a supply specialist for pilots. Later she was in the IT section at Headquarters for a year.
She decided not to re-enlist, for what would have been another six years of service. Laczko left the military on Dec. 28, 2012. It was nearly a year later that she donned a different uniform - that of the Moniteau County Sheriff's Department - and became a jailer. In less than another year, she became a road deputy.
What headed her towards the direction of law enforcement was a neighbor who was a deputy sheriff when she was growing up. The decision to leave the military was in part because of her daughter, who had just turned four at the time. Now that Laczko has had eight months as a road deputy with a weekly schedule rotation - one week days and the next nights - she is very glad to have her grandmother living with she and her daughter in Tipton. While the rotating shifts are something of a problem, having her grandmother in the home provides stability for her daughter.
About her daughter, Laczko said, "She doesn't understand exactly what I do. She thinks I go out and protect people."
In a way, people around her have led Laczko to the career choices she has made. She grew up with a military type of direction, since her mother is a Sergeant Major in the Missouri Air National Guard. Then there was the neighbor previously mentioned. She saw him helping people. "I didn't want to sit behind a desk and I wanted to help people," she said.
She didn't want to sit behind a desk and she wanted to help people. Laczko enjoys working with people. She now has a vocation which means she is helping those who need help and, really important, doing something different every day. She is also on the Emergency Response Team (ERT) of the Moniteau County Sheriffs Department.
Laczko mentioned some of the training that has to be undertaken while in law enforcement school. learning to use rifles, shotguns and handguns are only the beginning. She had to be certified with Tasers and pepper spray. Since certification with the last two mentioned requires actually experience with the effects, Laczko gave her opinion on them. "I'd rather be Tased than pepper sprayed. The pepper spray is much worse!"
She also had to learn to use the radio, computer and cell phone. Laczko said that being a woman that is not especially tall or heavy had an advantage in one way - the uniform. Since her uniform had to be specially ordered, it fits well.
Laczko does have outside interests. Her daughter, of course, and spends time with family when she can. She likes to go to car shows and especially likes '69 Camaros. She also is taking guitar lessons. She likes camping, fishing and hunting deer. And she enjoys traveling. Laczko has a list of places she would like to go, including several foreign countries.
Probably best of all for Laczko and her family and co-workers, she likes the work.