Cop Who Busted Garrido Talks to High School
Allison Jacobs helped catch Phillip Garrido, who had been holding Jaycee Lee Dugard in his back yard for decades.
By JULIE BRAYTON
Updated 6:30 PM PDT, Mon, Nov 23, 2009
Corporal Allison Jacobs says it was a mother's instinct that led her to question Phillip Garrido, the man who held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive in his back yard for 18 years.
On Monday, the UC Berkeley police officer told teenagers at her old high school about the case, hoping to inspire them to chose a career in law enforcement.
Allison Jacobs, who graduated in 1994 from Santa Margarita Catholic High School, was the keynote speaker for the school's Alumni Career Day.
Jacobs made national headlines for her work in helping to crack the Jaycee Lee Dugard case.
The Santa Margarita Catholic grad was one of two officers with the UC Berkeley police force whose suspicions led to the arrest of Garrido and the return of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who in 1991 at age 11 was abducted from her Lake Tahoe neighborhood.
"For the first time in my career I couldn't read their eyes. It was very unsettling for me," Jacobs said.
Jacobs was recently interviewed by People magazine to be featured as one of the magazine's heroes of the year.
In high school, Jacobs favored art, yearbook and basketball. She showed signs of her law enforcement future even then when she turned in a football player for stealing a case of beer.
A letter from a teacher influenced her to become a police officer.
Jacobs says if she can teach these teenagers anything it's to trust their instincts. She says if the hairs on your neck go up, it's for a reason.
First Published: Nov 23, 2009 4:42 PM PDT
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