Reported by: Madison Corney Email: mcorney@mynews4.com

Published: 4/12 11:14 pm

 

Carson City, NV (KRNV & MyNews4.com) --

     The Nevada Highway Patrol presents the first female senior Trooper badge in agency history to Trooper Lori McGrath.  Trooper Lori McGrath was honored for her 29 years with the Nevada Highway Patrol at a badge ceremony in Carson City today, April 12, 2013.  Her family as well as her fellow law enforcement agents were there to celebrate and honor her achievement of being the longest serving trooper currently working for the Nevada Highway Patrol.  McGrath says, "I had a mindset from the time I think I was seven, that I wanted to be a Police Officer and I've always kept that goal and here I am 29 years later."

     McGrath began her career in 1984 as a dispatcher at the Reno Communications Center.  Four years later she completed her academy training and was assigned to the Highway Patrol's Commercial Enforcement Team, where she remains today.  There have been many ups and downs throughout McGrath's career. In 1989 while conducting a commercial vehicle inspection, she discovered 200 pounds of cocaine, the largest drug seizure at the time.  McGrath says the most memorable and also the darkest day of her career was when her partner, Danny Peterson was hit by a drunk driver and died 13 days later, "I still have all of his equipment in my locker, so when I retire he'll retire with us."

     Trooper McGrath is not the first in her family to serve the public. Her father, a retired NHP Captain says he tried to hinder his daughter from joining the force, "I tried to discourage her for a number of reasons, first of all her height and her size."

McGrath is just 5'2" tall and those who watched her train weren't sure if she would make it, retired NHP Sergeant, Tom Hammill says the day McGrath took her agility test is a day he will never forget, "That bag of rocks probably weighed twice as much as she did, I didn't think she would pull it off."  Now, only time will tell if McGrath's 15 year old daughter, Marin, will fulfill her dream of joining the FBI.  Trooper McGrath has accomplished many things in her 29 year career, she was also the first woman to be a K-9 handler as well as the first female Honor Guard Trooper.