Isabella Ochichi is a Kenya Police Services sergeant based in Nairobi, and she's probably the fastest police officer on the planet. The silver medal winner of the 2004 Olympics 5000-meter race, Ochichi granted an exclusive interview with Law Officer when she came to Carlsbad, Calif., to compete in the fast and famous Carlsbad 5000. She also took a little run with some members of the Carlsbad Police Tactical Response team. Chris Boyd, the team's supervisor, said the team managed to keep up, but that Ochichi was only being kind.
According to Ochichi, fitness should be important to every police officer. "Being fit makes you better at work and better able to deal with stress," she says. "I really enjoy both running and police work. Police work makes me feel closer to the people; we work for everyone. When I'm running, I feel like I am running for all of Kenya."
If you're wondering just how fast Ochichi is, she runs that 5K (more than 3.1 miles) in 14:53, which breaks down to less than 4:45 per mile.