Columbia Southern University student Katherine (Katie) McFerran always dreamed of becoming a police officer. In 2016, she summoned the courage to apply for a police officer position.
Katie is the wife of a firefighter, and becoming a first responder seemed to fit into her family’s lifestyle.
“We are a family with servants’ hearts,” she said. “We love our community and our careers. We are passionate about helping people and always look for ways to grow.”
Katherine and her husband, Jason
She joined the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) in 2017, and that’s when her law enforcement career began. However, it did not come without challenges.
“I understand and was not immune to the difficulties that come with a law enforcement career,” she said. “During my first two weeks of field training, I responded to an
officer down incident. It was devastating to see the loss of a fellow officer in that capacity. Thankfully, there was so much support within our community and agency to assist us through such a difficult time.”
While going through academy training, Katie would soon realize her true calling in her new career. The department scheduled representatives to give presentations, some of which included the Human Trafficking Unit, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICA) Unit, Homicide Unit, and domestic violence investigators.
After the presentations, Katie gravitated toward child crimes and human trafficking.
“I found that I was gifted at victim interviewing and interactions,” she said. “I cultivated a rapport in the department as someone who is willing to take on the not-so-glamorous incoming calls for service, usually sex crimes and crimes against children.”
Throughout her career, she has created and delivered human trafficking training materials for internal law enforcement officers and the community.
“I worked closely with victims of human trafficking as the lead investigator for these complex investigations,” she said. “After hundreds of hours of training and investigations, I was endorsed as an expert witness by the El Paso County District Attorney’s office, speaking on victim mentality, coercion and other trafficking related information.”
Katie took every opportunity to strengthen her investigative skills in crimes against children and domestic violence situations. Impressively, she was promoted to detective after serving three years on patrol with the Metro Vice Unit, where it typically takes at least five years to move into an investigative role.
“I give all my credit or anything that I’ve ever learned to my sergeant, Seargent Van’t Land, who was a phenomenal teacher because I really truly had no knowledge about human trafficking or any of these types of crimes,” she said. “I had the basic knowledge, but these investigations are so complex. The first year was soaking in as much information and training as possible. After getting a few years under my belt, I felt pretty confident with those investigations.”
Not all human trafficking cases are noticed by law enforcement. Unfortunately, a lack of training can be the possible cause.
“I sincerely believe the biggest obstacle we must overcome in my field of investigation is the lack of training and education involving our domestic human trafficking epidemic,” she said. “I’ve learned the grandiose illusion our community sometimes has of human trafficking, typically the violent kidnappings, drugging or international smuggling and sex trading. While these are very real circumstances, we often miss what is occurring within our own communities.”
Human trafficking is a broad scope for many potential crimes including gambling, prostitution and the exploitation of juveniles to name a few. During her detective work with the CSPD, she helped create training materials for fellow officers and the community to provide further education on what red flags to look for.
“Sometimes it’s easy to get into the mundane,” she said. “You come in contact with a runaway, take them home, cancel the report and be done with it. But instead of just handing that runaway over, I’m taking the time to ask specific questions about where the juvenile’s been and how they’ve been providing for themselves, where are they getting money for being gone this length of time, who’s feeding them – all these kinds of questions could really be a potential red flag later down the road.”
Katie feels that educating the public and providing further training for patrol officers is key in combating the problem.
“I believe education is the way to make a difference within our communities,” she said. “I believe educating our youth and the community is a preventative measure and educating our local law enforcement agencies is proactive.”
Katie was the winner of CSU’s Knight Scholarship in 2024 and is currently using it to pursue a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
“Personally, I’ve overcome the idea that it is silly for a 40-year-old wife, mom and police officer to go to school. I was scared of the unknown and was unsure of what it would be like to go back to school. I’m so thankful for this opportunity I’ve been given. I believe that having a criminal justice degree will complement my years of law enforcement experience.”
After serving five years as a detective, Katie and her family moved to Alabama, where she is a patrol officer with the Florence Police Department. She plans to bring her expertise in human trafficking to the department and her new community.
Disclaimer: These testimonials may not reflect the experience of all CSU students.
Multiple factors, including prior experience, geography, and degree field, affect career outcomes.
CSU does not guarantee a job, promotion, salary increase, eligibility for a position, or other career growth.
