Leslie Mariscal is a sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department (Department) with more than 35 years of law enforcement experience. Most of her career with the Department, Leslie spent as a detective supervisor.  As seasoned detective, Leslie investigated a myriad of crimes like sexual assault and crimes against children where she developed superb and compassionate interviewing skills. Leslie also joined the LAPD Mental Evaluation Unit, where she spent considerable time assisting people with mental illness who came in contact with law enforcement.  Leslie was instrumental in placing mentally ill contacts in safe environment as an alternative to incarceration.  As a detective, Leslie also developed a passion in the investigation of crimes against animals.  As a detective supervisor, Leslie joined the Department’s elite Animal Cruelty Rask Force, where she investigated, directed and trained Department personnel in the investigation of animal cruelty.  Lastly, Leslie joined the Department’s Operation Center where she assisted in managing daily and emergency law enforcement related incidents.  

Leslie was not a stranger to struggles women were facing when joining law enforcement organizations. Women in policing were not easily accepted by their male peers, in particular their supervisors.  Women were viewed with skepticism by their male counterparts despite the fact that women have been performing police work for over one hundred years.  Even though in recent years, acceptance by law enforcement organizations and the public has grown, women are still more likely to be the victim of workplace misconduct than their male counterparts.  Based on her own experiences and those of other women in the Department, Leslie co-founded the Blue-Ribbon Retaliation Intervention Center, a non-profit organization to assist law enforcement, governmental, and private organization employees and managers mediate workplace issues.  Leslie wanted to create an independent resource that can be utilized by employees and employers, as an alternative to litigation toward resolving incidents of disparate treatment.

In 2017, Leslie joined the Dispute Resolution Program where she was trained and participated in dozens of community mediations and conciliations resolving a myriad of social, economic and relationship-based conflict issues. 

Leslie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management from the University of Laverne. Ultimately, it is Leslie’s real experiences that enables her to be the voiced of many discrimination and retaliation victims, specifically women, whose only goal is to be treated with dignity and be afforded the same rights as any other productive member of the organization.