PHOENIX — It happened at a school dance. Charmane Osborn was 15 years old and was paged by the DJ. No one would tell her anything.
Then she learned her father, Phoenix Police Ofc. Robert Polmanteer had been killed in the line of duty.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: La mujer de más alto rango en la policía de Phoenix habla sobre la muerte de su padre en el cumplimiento del deber
On Monday night, hundreds of Arizonans came together to pay tribute to the state's fallen heroes at the annual Peace Officers Memorial Service. Osborn was one of the keynote speakers.
Osborn is the highest ranking woman in the department and the reason she was called to law enforcement is deeply personal.
“This was my dad when he was on the motorcycle and that was the motor that he was on when he was killed in line of duty," Osborn said as she showed a photo of her father.
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'I was at the dance when officers showed up.'
Policing is in Osborn's DNA. After her grandfather worked in law enforcement, her father became an officer in Michigan. He moved the family to Phoenix when she was 10 years old.
“My mother worked for the department for a little while also in our records and management division and I was just intrigued and thought it would be a great job," Osborn said.
Then came May 4, 1984. It's a day Osborn remembers like it was yesterday.
“I was a freshman in high school and I was at the last school dance for the year. And I was at the dance when officers showed up," Osborn recalled.
She was 15 years old being paged by the DJ at her high school dance.
“My mother wasn't home and my little brother was there and they were trying to get a neighbor to come over and sit with us," Osborn said. "Basically to try to figure out what was going on. And no one wanted to tell me anything.”
Osborn would eventually learn that her father, Phoenix Police Officer Robert Polmanteer was struck by an impaired driver.
“Right before his funeral, my mother had wanted to get pictures taken of him in uniform," Osborn said describing the photo above. "The photographer had just taken these and they weren't even developed yet. So they actually rushed the development so we would have them for the for the funeral procession.”
After losing her father, Osborn's dreams of becoming an officer were put on hold.
“I thought maybe I shouldn't do this for a while," Osborn said.
But out of tragedy came a calling she could not ignore.
“I took a leap of faith at age 28. Tried out for the department and graduated the academy at age 29," Osborn said.
Twenty-six years later, Osborn has worked as an officer in Maryvale, a sergeant then commander at the Desert Horizon precinct, she worked in internal affairs and community engagement, and graduated from the FBI National Academy.
In December of 2022, she was promoted to assistant chief and now she is the highest ranking sworn female employee in the department.
Part of her job entails overseeing recruitment and hiring. She notes the department is currently short 560 officers. She hopes others with her calling follow in her footsteps.
“I said it was a leap of faith because I wasn't really certain that it was what I think I should do, but still wanted to serve the community that I had grown up in. And I'm so thankful that I did," Osborn said.
While her father's life was cut short, she has since devoted her life to continuing his legacy.
“I hope that my dad is proud of me and everything that I've accomplished since being here," Osborn said.
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