BELLEFONTE — When Detective Lisa Larkin learned she had been named Centre County’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, her first thought wasn’t about recognition. It was about thanking her wife, whose support through years of nights, weekends and missed family time made the honor feel like a shared accomplishment.
“The first person I wanted to tell was my wife because she has just so unconditionally supported me in my career,” Larkin said. “She’s really sacrificed a lot over the years and done a lot of single-parenting duties when I’ve been working nights or weekends. To me, the award is as much an honor for her and all of her sacrifices as it was for me.”
For Larkin, the recognition is another milestone in a career that has already made history. She became Bellefonte’s first female detective and is now the first female detective from the department to earn the county’s top law enforcement honor. But when asked about her career, she spent little time talking about accolades and much more discussing service, compassion and the people who helped her along the way.
Police work, she said, has changed her over the years in ways few people outside the profession fully understand.
“I’ve not been successful at not letting it change who I am,” Larkin admitted. “There’s a lot of times where when I get home, I’m physically present, but mentally I’m elsewhere because I’m thinking about cases I have going or calls that I’ve just been on.”
She credits years of intentional work and the support of her family with helping her become more present outside of work. Sometimes, she said, that means recognizing when her mind has drifted back to a case and making the effort to reconnect with the people around her.
Larkin also believes conversations surrounding mental health have become increasingly important within law enforcement. She encourages younger officers to establish healthy coping mechanisms early and to never view asking for help as a weakness.
“I’ve known an officer who died due to suicide and it’s just really devastating,” she said. “There’s no shame in seeking help or asking for help because the earlier you start developing those healthy coping mechanisms, the better off you’re going to be in the long run.”
That mindset has also shaped the way she approaches policing.
Like many young officers, Larkin said she entered the profession eager to enforce the law. Experience eventually taught her that solving problems often requires something more than making an arrest.
“When you start dealing with people who are having mental health issues, you realize that a lot of times arresting someone isn’t going to be the answer,” she said. “Instead of looking at it as, ‘I’m here to enforce the laws and arrest people,’ I look at it as, ‘I’m here to solve problems.’ Sometimes arresting someone is the best solution and sometimes it’s not.”
Away from work, Larkin laughs at the idea that people picture detectives as serious crime solvers around the clock.
“I honestly am kind of a goofy person,” she said with a laugh. “I try not to take things too seriously if I don’t have to.”
She enjoys fly fishing, although she jokes she isn’t very good at it, crochets in her spare time and is constantly picking up new hobbies simply because she enjoys learning.
“I have about a million hobbies,” she said. “I’m probably not great at any one of them but I dabble a little bit in all of them.”
When asked how she hopes Bellefonte residents remember her career, Larkin’s answer reflected the philosophy that has guided her work.
“I would hope that they would remember that I came at this work with the absolute best of intentions,” she said. “I got into this line of work really to be of service to others, not to exert authority and power over people.”
Although the award bears her name, Larkin insists it belongs to far more people than herself.
She expressed gratitude to the officers within the Bellefonte Police Department, neighboring police agencies throughout Centre County, the Centre County District Attorney’s Office, the Child Advocacy Center, Centre County Children and Youth Services and the many other organizations she works alongside.
“All of these agencies really do come together to try and make the community better,” Larkin said. “Without working with all these other people, there’s no way that I could be as successful as I have been. I just really want all of those people to realize how appreciative I am of them.”
