Three Euclid Police Department members were recently promoted in a brief ceremony surrounded by their colleagues and friends. Donna Holden was promoted to Captain, Joel Barron was promoted to Lieutenant and Matthew Rhodes was promoted to Sergeant. Congratulations to everyone!!

  Donna Holden is the City of Euclid’s first female Police Captain- but not many people know it, because she doesn’t like to introduce herself that way. “I’m just Donna,” says the humble Holden, who casually mentioned that some of her own family members didn’t know the gravity of her promotion until the morning of the ceremony. 

  “Just Donna” is far from it- serving the City of Euclid on our police department for almost 23 years, being the very first female to hold several EPD supervisory positions, winning multiple awards and recognitions for her community service work, and being an overall asset to the community through her decades of dedication to the neighborhoods she serves. 

    Holden began her accomplished career in the Army National Guard ROTC, where she was the only female officer, and joined the military police unit after finding a passion for policing in a retail security guard role. “Catching a person in the act of committing a crime was exciting, I was hooked!” exclaimed Holden. After completing college and her service in the military in March of 1999, Donna applied for and was hired by her first-choice police department: Euclid. 

   “It’s not as glamourous as you see on TV,” said Holden of her experience in policing “I found out quickly that there was a huge need for communication skills.” She went on to explain how every call requires not just compassion- but a wide knowledge of law, a knowledge of resources, a knowledge of proper investigation techniques, good documentation skills and sometimes a referral to services- all which officers must pull from memory on the fly. 

   “I am constantly impressed by an officer’s ability to take a concern or complaint, and work it down to a level that they can help,” said Donna. “I don’t think people in the public understand what officers need to know to be able to respond, and give resources that will best help the situation- there are so many topics.”

      Donna is getting acclimated to her new duties as Captain, but speaks fondly of her ascension within the department. “Policing is an excellent profession and I’m very proud to be a part of it,” she offers. “I was mentored by so many people- and I won’t make them blush, but I hope to do the same for others.” She encourages anyone with an interest in policing (especially young women!) to contact her at Dholden@euclidpd.org.