Meet Va’Shawnda McLean
For Va’Shawnda McLean, adversity played an instrumental role in developing the strength and foundation she would later need. Va’Shawnda McLean, who is a Lieutenant with the Houston Police Department and Doctoral Candidate in Criminal Justice – Homeland Security, the mountains of adversity were steep but despite the challenges she never gives up. Instead, she looks for opportunities to break glass ceilings; and like a butterfly, her favorite species, she has evolved and spread her wings.
She is a mom, a wife, and a true public servant leader at heart.
In 1977, Va’Shawnda’s parents moved to Houston from Florida to provide a better life for their two young girls, ages 4 and 6. When the oil industry crashed, and things got tough with the job losses of her father, the family would often have to move. The challenges Va’Shawnda faced as a child centered around often being the new child in schools as well as a lack of cultural diversity. As an adult, and now a parent herself, she now understands her parents’ priority of finding affordable rent housing in an area with exemplary schooling was the reason she bounced around from school to school. Having attended at least six elementary schools she can remember, Va’Shawnda was often the new child in schools that lacked cultural diversity. For this reason, she champions the issues of affordable housing and diversity and understands how they are necessary elements in the foundational development of children. As a Mother, she understands the importance of the need for children to establish roots and she fiercely supports equality in education.
A life-long learner and fierce advocate for education, she has thrown herself into what she believes to be a pathway to help achieve success – education. She graduated from Alief Hastings High School in 1991 where she met her husband on graduation night. Not knowing at the time that his story would classify him as a DREAMer; Va’Shawnda is empathetic to the struggles of immigrants and believes in thoughtful and pragmatic immigration reform. She has witnessed and experienced firsthand the challenges of her husband has endured having been brought to the United States as a child from another country. Together they have fought for the American dream.
Va’Shawnda’s higher education began at Prairie View A&M University (an historically black college and university – HBCU) and she later earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Social and Criminal Justice from the now University of Arizona Global Campus graduating Magna Cum Laude. She later furthered her education by earning a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management from Sam Houston State University and is currently a doctoral candidate seeking a doctorate in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Homeland Security.
Va’Shawnda began her career with the Houston Police Department (HPD) as a Patrol Officer and later became an Investigator in its Vehicular Crimes Division. Building on this experience, she worked as an Investigator in the Hit & Run Division before being selected to be a Homicide Detective. Va’Shawnda worked as a Detective on Squad 1 alongside several of its original Detectives before moving on to work in Major Assaults. After promoting to Sergeant, Va’Shawnda worked in Patrol and the Jail before being selected to lead the Community Services Division/Differential Response Team for the Westside Patrol Division. Va’Shawnda was then selected as the Special Projects Sergeant for a Command Office to oversee community projects and special assignments. During this assignment, Va’Shawnda served as the liaison over youth programs and various projects. This assignment provided the opportunity to write a grant for illegal dumping, serve as the HPD liaison for the City of Houston’s Complete Communities, staff events for the region such as WIN-WIN in partnership with the Houston Health Department, disseminate the Houston Peace Initiative to HPD, partner with the Youth Justice Coalition, serve on the Racial and Ethnic Disparities Committee, and undertake the task of updating department standard operating procedures for field & support operations.
Va'Shawnda is currently the Shift Commander for Downtown Division overseeing patrol operations and night life programs. She has the heart of a servant leader, a spirit of volunteerism, and actively serves in the Houston Community in her spare time. She wholeheartedly believes Houston’s strength is in its diversity.
Va’Shawnda has two children and a new loveable bull-heeler mixed breed she recently adopted. In her spare, time she enjoys running, fishing, reading, and has recently earned her certification to ride motorcycles. Through her experiences, she believes everyone can foster a culture that HOUnites us and that anyone can “Be Someone” in Houston no matter from where you came.
