Maj. Carolyn Consoli was honored for her historic promotion alongside 21 fellow University Police officers at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute last week.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, the nature of Maj. Carolyn Consoli’s promotion was mischaracterized. With her promotion, Consoli became the highest-ranking woman currently working for University Police, and could be in line to become the first-ever female police chief, which the department has never seen. The following article has been altered to reflect this.
There are three assistant chiefs at the University Police Department, but Maj. Carolyn Consoli has a defining characteristic that sets her apart: She’s a woman.
Last week, Consoli became the highest-ranking woman in a department that’s roughly 85 percent male, promoted from captain to major, just one step below the police chief — this university’s police department has never had a female police chief. She was honored alongside 21 other officers at the department’s promotional ceremony at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute on Wednesday.
“Every time I’ve gotten promoted, I feel happy about it because I feel like I’ve really accomplished something accomplished something myself,” Consoli said.
There are only 12 female officers in the department out of an estimated 85. The closest ranking female officer to Consoli is Capt. Laura Dyer, one rank below major.
University Police Chief David Mitchell said Consoli, who has been responsible for the department’s budget and accreditation since 2001, was the perfect choice for a promotion to major.
“She’s certainly a success story here at the department,” he said. “She worked her way through every rank in our system. She has done an outstanding job. I am extremely proud of her.”
Consoli, 40, grew up in the area and has been involved with the University Police since she enrolled as an undergraduate student here in the early 1990s, serving four years in the student Police Auxiliary Unit, where her older sister also worked.
She graduated in 1995 with a degree in criminology and criminal justice and joined the University Police force, the first member of her family to work in law enforcement.
“When I decided to go into police work, my dad was like, ‘Okay, do whatever you want to do,'” she said. “No one ever said anything negative, they just wanted me to go for it. I think they’re always worried for me, but they never really said anything.”
The first time she knew that she had chosen the right profession was 16 years ago when she had just gotten out of training and police were looking for the suspect of an alleged assault.
“I was heading toward campus and the suspect just pulled out right in front of me,” she said. “He wouldn’t pull over so I chased him all the way through Prince George’s Plaza and ended up back at the university when he finally pulled over. It really got my adrenaline running and it was really, really exciting.”
But the thrill of a police chase isn’t Consoli’s favorite part of the job, she said.
“I love the people that I work with,” she said. “I think this is a fun place to work. It has its good and bad times, but the biggest thing keeping me here is the people.”
Even at home, Consoli works with police officers — her husband, Angelo, is a lieutenant with the Prince George’s County Police Department. Mitchell pointed out that because Consoli outranks her husband, police protocol dictates he needs to salute her.
Balancing her and her husband’s lives as police officers and their three children’s lives full of sports and Girl Scouts isn’t easy, Consoli said.
“It’s really busy and hectic,” she said. “I do a lot of volunteering at their school, and I teach CPR to the Girl Scouts. I keep on the go all the time. I love it, though.”
Her kids do it too, she added.
“They love riding around in my husband’s patrol car,” Consoli said. “They always ask if they can turn the lights and the sirens on, but he usually says, ‘No.'”
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