YOUR SPACE: Fighting plaque to fighting crime

If you misbehave on the north side of town, you might find yourself facing the person who used to come after your teeth with sharp objects.

Same lady, different uniform. A Taser, perhaps, instead of steel picks.

It's all part of Cynthia Varnell's new life of fighting crime.

Varnell recently graduated from the Colorado Springs Police Academy and starts this week at the city's Falcon substation.

She was a dental hygienist for 10 years before going after a badge.

"I thought about becoming a cop for several years. I got to a point in my life and said, ‘You know what, it's time,'" says Varnell, who at 39 wasn't the youngest in her class of 22 recruits.

The two careers aren't so far apart.

"People don't like the dentist too much and don't care to be there," she says. "That same agitation I might find out in the street."

She insists neither job stems from a desire to inflict pain on people. Quite the contrary.

"It's to help the good people," she says, "and be effective in taking away the bad element." Like the dental job, where she fought plaque.

Varnell entered the intensive sixmonth training academy in February after making the cut from about 200 applicants.

It entailed pursuits on foot and behind the wheel. She drove a cruiser 100 mph.

The recruits didn't have real suspects, so they practiced on each other.

Varnell was tasered by her classmates. She was handcuffed. She was pepper-sprayed. Eyes burning, in excruciating pain, she was chased with a club.

It hurt more than a root canal.

Recruits drew the line on shooting each other. They practiced marksmanship at the firing range.

"I'd shot a gun before," says Varnell.

The Colorado Springs native also had prior experience on the other side of the law.

"I've been pulled over. I earned my speeding tickets," she says. "I didn't have that many."

On her belt is a gun, pepper spray, radio, flashlight, extra pairs of handcuffs. Makes for complicated bathroom breaks for the women in blue, she says.

She wears a bullet-resistant vest. "I know there's guys out there that do want to hurt me and other officers."

She's married to Colorado Springs fire Lt. Fred Varnell.

Typically, the uniforms don't mix in marriages.

"That's unusual," says police Lt. Rafael Cintron, training center director. "You don't see many fire department/ police department couples."

Varnell says the his-and-her radios stay off at home.

"I might watch an occasional episode of ‘Cops,'" she says. "It's a good learning tool, mostly of what not to do."

Others in the latest academy class were: Felix Juliano, Sean Collins, Jake Cowan, Edward Crofoot, Randall Degering, Joe Dumont, Michael Ford, Adam Griffin, Shanna Hostetler, Charles Johnson, Jeffrey Ma, Alan Radke, Kerry Reddick, Michael Suarez, William Sunday, Ryan Tepley, Kyle Vanderlinden, Alan Van't Land, Anthony Voltz, Tyler Walker and Jeremy Winn.

The next session starts in August.

Think it's for you? Go to www.springsgov.com/page.asp?navid=6052.

Think you know law enforcement? Play the hangman game: www.springsgov.com/units/police/hangman/index.htm.

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Tell me your stories: 636-0253 or andrea.brown@gazette.com