Chief Cindy Creamer

A Career in community policing

by Elahe Izadi

At six years of age, Cindy Creamer, now 47, knew she wanted to dedicate her life to police work.
“I had my first exposure to a police officer, the officer assigned to my elementary school as a liaison,” she said. “It made such an impression on me. I had a keen interest in police work.”
Forty-one years later, as the chief of police for Takoma Park, she is leading the effort to institute a cross jurisdictional proposal for policing Takoma Park and nearby communities.
“If we don’t have the opportunity to try this [the proposal], we’ll never know what the results could have been,” Creamer said. “Now is the perfect time to pursue this.”
The proposal would mean that area police departments would have deputization of officers to work in the area where DC meets Maryland in Takoma Park. One effect would be if someone committed a crime in Maryland and ran over to DC, Maryland officers would be able to cross the line to arrest them. The proposal is just in the preliminary planning stages right now.
“This is going to be a major endeavor because you have a lot of police departments on both sides of the line,” she said.
She said that departments in Prince Georges county, Montgomery county, DC, metro transit police, and Takoma Park, Md. will have to be involved for it to be successful and effective. Creamer is planning to meet with DC’s chief of police Charles Ramsey soon to present the proposal.
Creamer, originally of Prince George’s county, became the first woman to rise to the rank of Takoma Park’s chief of police in 2002 after working for the department for 25 years. She began as a dispatcher after her high school graduation. But for years she doubted whether she’d ever be able to enter the field.
“Back in the early 60s, there weren’t many, if any, women in the police, especially patrol,” she said. “I was definitely interested and excited, but I didn’t really think of it as a reality, because quite frankly, it was a man’s job.”
But Creamer said as she got older, she saw more women entering the field. In Maryland, the minimum age to be an officer is 21, so she decided to apply for an open dispatcher position in Takoma Park at 19.
“It was the best way to satisfy this thirst for the law enforcement businesses,” she said.
In that short time, she got to know the community.
“I felt this was my home, this is where I could make my career.”
After graduating from Hagerstown’s Western Maryland Police Academy, Creamer applied for an officer opening in Takoma’s department. And since then, she has risen through various ranks and positions, all the while working with the same passion she had when she first entered the department.
“When I get appointed to a new position, I have a tendency to totally immerse myself in that position,” she said. “Sometimes people have to tell me to go home [at the end of the day].”
Creamer was given the Officer of the Year award in 1980 for patrol work, and the same award in 1990 for criminal investigations work. She was also the department’s first Supervisor of the year award recipient and first female sergeant and lieutenant.
Creamer said the level of engagement and willingness to participate were the primary strengths of the Takoma Park community.
“Activism is the hallmark of Takoma Park, and that’s a strength because people are not afraid to get involved and ask questions, provide feedback,” she said. “We need the community involvement in order to be successful.”
Since she has become chief of police, Creamer said she has seen some changes within the department. The department is building stronger relationships with community members and city officials, she said. Also, there is a greater emphasis on training within the department.
“I’m a huge believer in training and education, to make sure our staff stays current with all the information out there.”
Creamer works anywhere from 10 to 16 hours a day. But her love of police work keeps her as motivated as she was when she was 19.
The drive that I have is probably a little bit higher than the average individual,” she said. “I just love police work.”
And with this month, comes the 27th anniversary of Creamer’s time with the Takoma Park department.
“Looking back at my time with the city, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing,” she said. “I would consider myself a member of the city, and I consider this my primary address.”