Rose Valentino: A Police Woman of Cincinnati

Pretty, posh and petite. Rose Valentino looks like many young professionals hanging out in Over the Rhine these days. Few people would guess she spends her nights keeping those very streets safe.

Valentino, a 30-year-old Harrison native, works the midnight shift in OTR. She says she loves nothing more than putting bad guys behind bars and making the city safer for her young daughter, Lily, and fiance Matt. "I’ve always enjoyed adventure and staying in shape," she says. "I couldn’t think of a better way to apply my studies and get a thrill."

She was one of four female members of the Cincinnati Police Department featured in the fifth season of "Police Women of Cincinnati" on TLC. Valentino says it all started when she saw an open application to all the females on the department interested in being on the show. Based on those applications, they set up individual interviews. Based on that interview, which was taped, they set up a second interview. Then they did a home visit so they could see the way candidates lived outside of work.

"Then they did a ride along, again taped, so they could see how you did your job and interacted with the community. Based on all that, they chose the four Police Women of Cincinnati," explains Valentino. "I feel like this department is packed full of very committed and effective female officers and any one of them could have done an amazing job on the show."

When asked what it was like to see herself featured on a nationally televised show, she summed it up in one word: embarrassing. "I wasn’t really sure how I was going to feel until I actually watched it for the first time and for the most part, I was embarrassed," she says with a smirk. "I’m generally not one who starves for attention nor enjoys talking about myself. I initially thought I was going to watch the shows over and over again but as it turns out, once was enough for me!"

On the other hand, Valentino says, her family thoroughly enjoyed seeing her shine on the screen. "My family thought it was amazing that I was given the opportunity to do the show and they really enjoyed every minute of it," she says.

Valentino, a three-year CPD member, says her favorite part about the experience was getting to share with Cincinnati what it’s like as a female in the field. She says the most rewarding part was "getting to show the country that women can be very effective police officers."

Looking back, she says she’s glad she did the show and would do it again given the opportunity. "I feel like there is so much we endure as police officers such as: grief, sorrow, excitement, disgust, danger, chaos etc.," she says. "I feel like there is still so much everyone did not get to see."

Valentino, once an avid viewer of the show, says she watches less now that she’s been featured. "I actually watched the show more before I was on it. I don’t know why. Perhaps because I don’t want to see someone doing a better job than I did," she laughs.

While Valentino might not tune in as often these days, she did make one valuable friendship from the show. "I run into Mandi and Tia often at the courthouse," she says. "Also, Tia and I have spent a lot of time together doing appearances and have become good friends."