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By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
1-1-2008 Inyo County has a new head honcho in the law enforcement field, this one charged with overseeing the highways and keeping drivers safe.
Patricia Shearer is the new captain for the Bishop office of the California Highway Patrol, having taken the reins from Joe Flores.
Shearer has been working here since July and in her new capacity, officially, since September, but this marks her 26th year in uniform.
She has worked her way up the ranks starting in Southern California, specifically the Inland Empire of Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
During her time on the CHP she has worked on Protective Services Detail, guarding elected officials and heads of state.
She has also been a member of California’s Mobile Field Force Team since its inception 10 years ago. Shearer said the team was called out to Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina to provide support to the exhausted local tactical and enforcement teams.
Shearer has also worked public relations in various field offices.  New Bishop California Highway Patrol Captain Patricia Shearer, a 26-year veteran, said she jumped at the chance to take a job in a place where she has vacationed most of her life. Photo by Mike Bodine
Shearer said she’s worked with a lot of different people in many capacities, but, she admitted, “I’m very impressed by the working relations I have with (Inyo County) Sheriff Bill Lutze and (Bishop Police) Chief Kathleen Sheehan.” She added that her working relationship with allied agencies in Inyo County is better than some of her experiences in Southern California.
Shearer is now heading up the largest geographical CHP area, extending from Pearsonville in the south to Tom’s Place in the north and encompassing all of Death Valley.
But Shearer’s used to the open space, as her father used to take her camping and hiking in the Sierra when she was a girl, sparking a love of the outdoors that has been with her her whole life. In addition to spending a lot of her free time in the outdoors, she has made several ascents of Mt. Whitney and frequently hikes the outback of Death Valley.
When she heard of the opening in Bishop, Shearer said, she jumped at the chance to live in a place where she has vacationed and which she has explored for decades.
“I’ve always liked a little adventure,” she said Tuesday. This sense of adventure brought her to the CHP when she was in her 20’s, after receiving a Bachelor’s in Business from Cal Poly, Pomona.
She said she worked several jobs before finally choosing the CHP as a career.
“This is the best job I’ve ever had, especially for being a female,” she said, adding that it had nothing to do with the current statewide recruitment push for CHP officers.
Shearer said she has encountered some stigma from being a female officer, but she said that there are always going to be prejudices no matter the job or circumstance. But, being a female officer can have its advantages. She explained that male officers have their strengths, and female officers have theirs, such as “being a better talker,” which can work better than brute force, depending on the situation.
Shearer joins the growing list of female leaders in local law enforcement, along with Bishop Chief Sheehan and Lt. Renee Difronzo who has been leading the Bridgeport CHP office for nearly three years. v
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