Phoenix Share Before The Badge: Lois Weiss, Personal Trainer And Bodybuilder

Phoenix AZ

08 March, 2021

9:32 AM

Description

Press release from the City of Phoenix: March 7, 2021 Phoenix Police officers come from many different backgrounds, including different careers. The department's video series, 'Before the Badge,' is profiling some of those careers, and the diversity they bring to the department today. Phoenix Police Lt. Lois Weiss climbs the stairs to her fourth floor office in downtown Phoenix. Rest assured, there's an elevator in the building, but she's into staying fit — she has been her whole life, so much so, that it was her first real career before ever entering law enforcement. "Going into college, I needed to find a way to pay for things," Lt. Weiss explained. "As I was pursuing my bachelors at the University of Illinois [at] Chicago — was pursuing that for criminal justice, I majored in that, I minored in political science. So during that time, personal training was a monetary benefit." Lt. Weiss worked four years as a personal trainer at a health club in a suburb of Chicago. Personal training led her to the world of bodybuilding, and she eventually found herself in competitions. She said she walked away with a handful of trophies, and some invaluable life lessons, too. "It taught you intestinal fortitude," Lt. Weiss said. "It taught you emotional equity, in any mission. It taught self preservation, self regulation, it also taught me how to work seamlessly with other people because it really put in the forefront of my mind, I can't go this alone." Ultimately though, she said she did not see herself in personal training forever, and after graduating college, she returned to an interest she had as a little girl. "I wanted to go into law enforcement," Lt. Weiss said. "I just knew I did. Personal training wasn't going to ever allow me the conduit, or the way, to hold people accountable for horrible things that they did." So, in her early 20s, she moved out west, and the rest, as they say, is history. Lt. Weiss has been with the Phoenix Police Department for 27 years. She has been in roles from financial crimes to homicide to undercover details, always keeping with her the strong mental and physical foundation from that first career. Now as a leader of the department's Professional Standards Bureau, she cannot stress enough the benefits of a team with a diverse employment background like her own. "I believe that diversity galvanizes the department," Lt. Weiss explained. "And this is going to set us up for longevity in this organization that I truly believe is the best organization in the country. This press release was produced by the City of Phoenix. The views expressed here are the author's own.