New HUPD officers constituted a large portion of her class, and so graduation was held in Sanders Theatre in April 1999. The 13 new officers were the first class brought in under the new vision of

“community-oriented policing” by HUPD Chief Francis D. “Bud” Riley. Riley hand-picked them for their diversity, life experience and their ability to connect with the Harvard community. She’s been patrolling ever since.

HUPD has a higher proportion of female officers than most police departments—roughly a dozen of the department’s 60-odd officers are female.

Despite her role in a male-dominated occupation and her small size, almost nothing alarms DiVirgilio.

“The way I see what I do is this—I know I’m five foot five inches and a girl and I don’t weight lift for my arms everyday. I’m not as strong as a man. But when I’m at work, I keep my head on my shoulders,” she says.

7:40 p.m.—The HUPD dispatcher radios for DiVirgilio to investigate an alarm at Memorial Church. The alarm had gone off and then quickly reset. HUPD will investigate anyway.

DiVirgilio says that responding to emergency calls doesn’t faze her.

“I don’t worry about risking my life. I can get back-up and I know I have plenty of tools on my belt,” she says as she turns on her siren and speeds through the streets of Cambridge.

The University has close to 300 alarms—burglar, fire and panic—all of which are monitored by HUPD dispatchers at the department’s 1033 Mass. Ave. headquarters. In a given week, officers will respond to about 70 alarm calls.

Tonight, she arrives at the Church and finds everything okay. The patrol continues.

DiVirgilio spends a lot of her time on patrol checking on restored alarms—ones that go off and then quickly reset. She describes it as an important but sometimes frustrating task.

“Once there was a vent with a string attached and the motion detector kept picking up the string and setting off the alarm. We got the same alarm call three times in one day,” DiVirgilio laughs.

8:40 p.m.—DiVirgilio happens upon a minor chemical spill in the labs on Oxford Street. The Cambridge Fire Department is already there, and the situation appears to be under control. She moves on.

For now, DiVirgilio says she is very happy at HUPD and has no urge to change jobs. Like all patrol officers, she works four days and then has two days off, allowing her the weekend off only once every six weeks.

Depending on the weather and the department’s needs, she could find herself working undercover or patrolling in a car or on a mountain bike.