Calendar Caper : Some of S.D.’s Finest Show It’s Not All Cops and Robbers

In an effort to raise money for charity, some female San Diego police officers have dropped their tough-cop stance and are posing for a new calendar that they hope will project a positive, personable image of the woman behind the badge.

The women--12 of the 175 female officers on the 1,800-member San Diego force--said the 1988 calendar will show that cops are not all uniform, badge and gun, but that they also are people who pursue normal off-duty hobbies and interests.

Money raised from the sale of the calendars will go to the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program.

On Thursday afternoon, the calendar officers gussied up and climbed aboard a 53-ton M60 tank at Camp Elliott to pose for the cover shot.

The officers shrugged off any criticism that the calendar is sexist.

“I actually thought this would be fun,” said Andra Brown, who has dark brown hair and hazel eyes. “I’m kind of adventuresome. I gave it a try.”

Brown, 23, had once planned a career in the law, then switched to law enforcement. An officer for about a year, she works a day beat between Interstate 8 and North Harbor Drive.

Tentatively slated as Miss November, she is pictured in riding gear on her four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle, a hobby she pursues during her off hours. Having never modeled before, she was truly surprised when chosen to appear in the calendar.

“There are some good-looking ladies on this police department,” she said. “We’re not all 3 feet high and 3 feet wide, or 6 feet tall and gangly.”

Diane Sadlier, who has shoulder-length blond hair and brown eyes, said the photographs reveal that underneath the uniform, there lurks a human being.

“I’m the oldest of the bunch, so it makes me feel good,” said the 38-year-old Sadlier, who has been an officer for two years. “It shows that working out and staying in shape pays off.”

Sadlier said she keeps fit by rowing for several hours a day off Coronado Cays. In her March photograph, she is depicted with a paddle over her shoulder, walking up a boat dock.

When not dipping an oar in San Diego Bay, Sadlier rides a relief beat in Logan Heights. When doing neither, she’s usually at home with her husband--also an officer--and their two teen-age daughters.

“Somehow their friends found out about this,” Sadlier said. “They said ‘Wow, your mother’s a calendar girl! She must be hot!’ ”

The calendars, which will cost $9,600 to produce, are due out by the middle of next month. They will sell for about $9 each. Several of the cop-models put up money of their own to get the project started.

The calendar follows two all-male San Diego police officer versions published in recent years. Proceeds for those ventures, organized by Officer Donovan Jacobs, went to recoup production costs and to help support the family of slain Officer Thomas Riggs, according to police spokesman Bill Robinson.

The male photos showed them in various semi-seductive poses wearing athletic apparel, and was received by the public as being sort of sexist-in-reverse. The female photos show the officers in various action shots from their off-duty hobbies.

“I can’t sit back and anticipate thoughts that are conjured up in somebody else’s mind,” said Jack Haeussinger, a detective and the photographer for the calendar. “The intent certainly isn’t there.”

Becky Ellis, who has light brown hair and brown eyes, has been on the force for seven years. She has spent eight years jogging, and her calendar photo depicts her out of breath at Seaport Village.

About the male calendar, Ellis, 30, said: “They’re wearing less clothes than we are. I’m wearing jogging clothes. I’m not trying to show off my body. We’re doing it to raise money for charity. If people don’t like it, too bad.”

Karen Danielson, who has blond hair and hazel eyes, has attended modeling school and studied dance and other theatrical arts. Before becoming an officer she was a manicurist. She also raises horses and her September photo shows her in Western wear out on the ranch.

While on duty, she patrols El Cajon Boulevard. “It’s one of the toughest areas in the city,” she said. “A lot of drugs, prostitution and robberies. A lot of rapes. A lot of heavy crime.”

So is this calendar a sexist thing?

“I get stereotyped as being pretty tough and not too friendly,” said Danielson, 23. “That’s not really what I am. Instead, this shows more or less that I really am a person and not just a cold-hearted police officer.”

Officer Brown said: “It’s very tastefully done and it’s more a fun, active calendar as opposed to cutesy-pie. It isn’t cheesecakey. It’s not like, ‘Look at me, I’m so cute and I don’t have a brain in my head.’ We’re not all, ‘Dopey me, I’m a girl . . . ‘

“It shows us as real people, the women behind the badge.”