Economy Matters

Natalie Diaz often touches on themes of duty and service when she discusses her work as a law enforcement corporal in the Atlanta Fed's Jacksonville Branch.

Natalie Diaz joined the Jacksonville Branch in February 2022 and was promoted nine months later to corporal from officer. Photo by René Pérez, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

There's duty to her fellow officers and the team's mission to protect the people, property and assets of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. There's the innate sense of service to others, whether in leading a blood drive at the Jacksonville Branch or acting in an unthinkable situation such as a mass shooting.

"They tell us, 'You go. Don't wait for backup. Regardless of whether you're in uniform, it's your duty to act,'" Diaz said. "I would pick up and go. I would save a life. That goes for all my guys here."

Diaz's convictions caught the eye of Lieutenant Chuck Mulligan, who joined the Jacksonville Branch in 2022 after 33 years with a large sheriff's office in Florida. Her perspective on resolving to "stand in the line of threat and be the person who runs toward the danger" speaks to a broad sense of duty and service, Mulligan said.

"That thread of thought runs rampant in law enforcement," Mulligan said. "But for someone to articulate that in the way she did shows what a noble profession law enforcement is. She also has other qualities that are a tribute."

Diaz joined the Jacksonville Branch in February 2022 and was promoted nine months later to corporal from officer. A career in law enforcement was a childhood dream, but it wasn't her first career path. Diaz previously worked her way up the ladder in a medical office from greeting patients upon arrival to attending them before they saw a cardiologist at the University of Miami Hospital.

That's when she decided her passion wasn't in the medical field. Her fiancé encouraged her to follow her dream in law enforcement. The two were married shortly before Diaz entered the Federal Reserve's training academy. Blas Diaz is a master-at-arms in the Navy.

"He's my best friend and he's pushed me more than anyone I've ever known. He believes in me," Diaz said. "He says, 'I'm proud of you and want you to do better every day.' He and I have the same mindset and the same values, which is very important, and we communicate. He changed my life. He saved me from being stuck."

Diaz joined the Jacksonville Branch at a time her gender and heritage place her in the minority of law enforcement personnel nationwide, according to a 2020 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, released in November 2022. Diaz's parents are of Columbian and Nicaraguan heritage.

Women and Hispanics each comprised about 14 percent of full-time sworn officers across local police departments in 2020, the report shows.

Diaz said she feels the professional embrace from her colleagues. None have sought to turn her gender, heritage, or lack of prior police experience into stumbling blocks. She did have initial apprehensions.

"I would describe her as bold," Jones wrote in an email. "She is a female working in a male-dominated field. As her training officer, I witnessed firsthand how she broke out of her shell and came into her own. … Natalie's resilience is the trait that impresses me the most."

Diaz is quick to credit Jones, whom she described as having extensive knowledge about all things Fed. "He gave me my confidence," she said.

Jones continued the laudatory remarks. Diaz agreed to chair the Department Improvement Group, even though she'd been an employee for less than a year.

"She took the reins and ran with it," Jones said. "Most staff members would want to settle into the department first, prior to taking on such an important task."

Mulligan cited other times Diaz has stepped up in departmental leadership. For one, she organized a blood drive. When the. blood bank determined that five or six volunteers were needed to make it worth the trip, Diaz recruited about 15 volunteers in a law enforcement department of 32 full-time staff, plus more from other departments. She also initiates potluck lunches as a team-building effort.

"I find these as outstanding tributes to the person that she is," Mulligan said, adding that he sees in Diaz the seeds of leadership.

"I can give a lot of adjectives and words and quotables. It's sometimes hard to define leadership, but you know it when you see what the person exudes," Mulligan said. "With Natalie, you know the quality of person she is when you meet her."

Diaz said she's told her supervisors that she's open to learning and rising in rank to senior corporal, sergeant, or even lieutenant, the rank one step below chief of a Bank Branch. She described a bright future for herself and other women who want to join the Fed's rising generation of diverse law enforcement professionals.

"I encourage women to never be afraid to take a risk or to challenge themselves to grow as individuals," Diaz wrote in an email. "The thought of navigating the traditional male world of law enforcement as a woman should not discourage you from becoming a LEO [law enforcement officer], because you never stop learning and, as long as you have a good relationship with your fellow officers and work together and hear each other out, you'll always succeed."

Diaz offered a concluding thought for anyone who wants to serve as a Federal Reserve law enforcement officer: "You have to have the drive to be successful and challenge yourself every day."

David Pendered

Staff writer for Economy Matters