SOUTHLAKE, Texas -- On her first night on the job, a rookie Southlake police officer made a major drug bust that has her own department calling her "a new hero on the street."
"Being on my own for that first night was really a proud moment for me," said Officer Nikki Lockwood.
Ofc. Lockwood arrested a 17-year-old man who was carrying a backpack with 17 Xanax bars, scales, plastic bags, and hundreds of dollars in cash. It happened on her very first shift when she was patrolling solo.
Ofc. Lockwood was called to a Southlake neighborhood to help another officer handle a noise complaint at about 3 o'clock in the morning. Together, they asked the residents to quiet down, and after leaving, they noticed two young men approaching the house, one with a backpack. They believed the men were acting suspiciously and approached them.
"He was just combative verbally, he wasn't listening to us, you could just tell something was off about his behavior," said Ofc. Lockwood. They ran their names and discovered the young man with the backpack had an outstanding warrant for drug possession. They searched his backpack and found the drugs.
"We both knew in that moment that we had just arrested someone that was most likely not just carrying drugs but was probably distributing," said Ofc. Lockwood.
Later that morning while she was getting some sleep, her department posted her photo to their Facebook page, recognizing the work of their newest cop. Ofc. Lockwood said her phone was blowing up with messages from family and friends who'd seen the story.
She grew up in Arlington and graduated from Texas Wesleyan University last year, and she said she decided to go into law enforcement after completing an internship at Southlake Police Department. She had considered a career in the military but decided she wanted to make a difference closer to home.
"A big motivator for me to get into this field is I want to be a part of changing people's perceptions of police officers," she said, "and I want them to see us a human, as fun, and as normal people."
Major drug bust for rookie Southlake officer first night on the job
On her first night on the job, a rookie Southlake police officer made a major drug bust that has her own department calling her "a new hero on the street."