She started as a cop in Phenix City. Now she’s chief of more than 400 state officers

When Susanna Capps first arrived in Alabama at age 15, she knew she wanted to be a police officer.

Now Chief Capps, a 21-year veteran of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency who got her start in Phenix City, is the head of ALEA and a leader of more than 400 state officers. It’s the first time a woman has ever held the role.

“Law enforcement was in my family,” Capps told the Ledger-Enquirer in a phone interview. Her father was chief deputy of Suffolk County, N.Y., and law enforcement had always interested her.

When she graduated from Smiths Station High School and began her career working with the Phenix City Police Department in 1994, she started with the narcotics task force. She worked with them for about six months, pursuing crimes in Russel County, Phenix City and sometimes Columbus.

“I didn’t know many people in the city side of it, I was mostly around Smiths Station growing up,” she said. “I had the chance to work with some great folks.”

After six months, she went off to the academy for basic police training. Back then, Capps said, people could work for the department for a short period of time without having gone through the academy.

She stayed around two more years in Phenix City, getting to know the other officers and working with Phenix City Police Chief Ray Smith. “I’ve known and had a lot of respect for him,” she said.

It was traffic work that Capps said first made her think about becoming a state trooper. She said working with the troopers during traffic patrols, including dealing with some fatalities, made her interested in the work.

“I wanted to learn how to do one thing, learn how to do that really well,” she said.

That desire, along with encouragement from a female instructor at the police academy as well as the department in Phenix City, convinced her to take the trooper test. She passed, began officially working for ALEA, and moved to Mobile to start her new job.

Years later, she now leads the whole agency. But she said she doesn’t like to think about it in terms of being in charge of others.

“I look at it as I’m a servant. I work for them,” she said. She also pointed to how all the officers in Phenix City supported her both while she was a police officer and when she decided to make the switch.

“I love that place. It will always have a special place in my heart,” she said. “All the encouragement I got ... I’ll never forget that.”

While speaking to the Ledger-Enquirer, Capps insisted that her story was a simple one, something anyone with drive could follow.

Her attitude matched a statement she made after being named chief.

“You either want to do this or you don’t. And if you are serious – and want to be taken seriously – you do what it takes to get there,” Capps said in the statement. “I don’t come to work every day with a chip on my shoulder or thinking I have to prove myself every day. I just come to work, and I do my job.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 1:28 PM with the headline "She started as a cop in Phenix City. Now she’s chief of more than 400 state officers."