LA HABRA, Calif. — Before Rosaisela Rodriguez’s beloved father lost his battle with cancer in 2019, he left her with one dying wish.

“If there’s something you want to do in life, do it,” she said. “We never know what could happen tomorrow. Fulfill your dream.”

His words gave Rodriguez the confirmation she said she needed to revisit her long-lost dream of joining the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

When she was in her early 20s, Rodriguez was in an abusive marriage. She said she stayed with her ex-husband for five years until two officers changed her life.

“These two cops were so empathetic to my situation,” Rodriguez said. “They talked to me like nobody else talked to me and that helped me not go back to that relationship.”

She said that encounter made her want to go into law enforcement. But as life would have it, her dream was deferred nearly 15 years, time she spent focusing on her family.

At 48 years old, with the support of her husband, five children and seven grandchildren, Rodriguez finally enrolled in the LA County Sheriff’s Department academy. She endured 22 weeks of early mornings, intense training, countless hours of studying and sacrificed time with her family.

On Aug. 18, Rodriguez was sworn in as a sheriff's deputy, a part of class 461.

“It was a little bit intimidating,” she said. “There weren’t many women in the academy and on top of that, my age.”

She’s assigned to a women’s jail and her personal mission is to bring a glimpse of hope.

“I think that there are a lot of people in jail who, something in their life happened, but it doesn’t define who they are as a person,” she said. “I hope that I can help these women, maybe giving them hope that there’s more to life than this situation that they’re going through.”