Bio

Betty Frizzell is the former chief of the Winfield, Missouri Police Department. Betty began her law enforcement career in 1997 with an aim to assist victims of sexual assault. She served as a Deputy Sheriff in both the Lincoln and Ripley County (MO) Sheriff’s Departments. During her time with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, she helped develop the first Sexual Assault Response Teams unit and was the first female officer to join the S.W.A.T. team. She later worked as a police officer and gang investigator for the city of Louisiana, Missouri before becoming the Chief of the Winfield Police Department. Upon retiring from policing, Frizzell began teaching criminal justice courses and police as a professor and CTE teacher. She holds an M.F.A in Writing and an M.S. in Criminal Justice Administration. She served as a member of the Citizens Advisory Board for the State of Missouri Department of Corrections: Probation and Parole Division and was honored as the Lincoln County Law Enforcement Officer of the Year in 2001. Also, she was honored as a Starfish award winner from Seattle Children's Hospital and received an award of recognition from the State of WA Department of Health and Social Services in 2016. Frizzell currently resides in Seattle, Washington, but remains closely connected to Missouri.

She continues her work as a criminal justice reformer and mental health awareness and is a speaker for Law Enforcement Action Partnership and National Alliance on Mental Illness . Her work is published in Huffington Post, St. Louis Post Dispatch and other national newspapers. She has testified for criminal justice reform in front of the Missouri State and Washington State Senate.