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From Rookie to Deputy Director General in 10 Years
 

Deputy Director General of Kosovo Police Atifete Jahjaga is South East Europe’s highest ranking policewoman – an impressive achievement especially when taking into account that she only became a policewoman 10 years ago.

Deputy Director General Jahjaga’s dedication to her job and career progression is truly inspiring. Her climb up the career ladder has been rapid. She has consistently, on an almost annual basis, risen through the ranks, on most occasions becoming Kosovo’s first female police officer to achieve such status.

She graduated as a lawyer with a post graduate degree in police management and from the FBI National Academy and Bramshill Academy but says she had always been drawn to the policing world and joined the Kosovo Police in 2000, one year after the police force was created. She says that, during her legal studies, she realised there was a lack of women’s experience, especially in law enforcement.

 “Also, considering the transition time our society was going through I decided to brake the taboos, join the police and do something which, until then, was considered only as a man’s profession,” she added.

And she has certainly paved the way for future generations of female police officers to rise through the ranks.

Find Atifete’s full story in WomenPolice