Corporal Sara Leishear has played an integral role in the Frederick Police Department's (FPD) community and officer wellness initiatives, motivated by her experiences to support resiliency and help vulnerable communities. In her early adulthood, her firsthand experience with homelessness and poverty strengthened her empathy and motivated her to protect those in need.  

Currently assigned to FPD’s Special Operations Division, Cpl. Leishear oversees the Crisis Response Team (CRT) and the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. Under her leadership, CRT and LEAD have grown significantly and become the gold standard in the community. Cpl. Leishear has also improved the CRT team cohesion and activity documentation. For the LEAD program, Cpl. Leishear increased its accessibility and educated officers on its benefits, bringing referrals up 36 percent and doubling the number of participants within two months. 

Through volunteering with FPD's Resiliency and Wellness Group, Cpl. Leishear helped develop a strategic plan, secure grant funding for a wellness app, bring in a posttraumatic growth training program, and implement a mentorship program. Cpl. Leishear also helped improve FPD’s culture by embracing her own vulnerability in a way that empowered her fellow officers to prioritize their mental health and support each other’s mental wellness. 

Cpl. Leishear has received multiple awards, including one for responding to a man who experienced an opioid overdose—who is now clean and credits Cpl. Leishear for hist life and counts her among his friends. She has been recognized not only for the life-saving efforts, but her continued work in promoting, education, support, and resources to help individuals achieve and maintain sobriety.  

“Each day, I am inspired to uphold justice and provide hope, using my past struggles as a beacon of empathy and resilience to guide me.”