Nuriddin teaches what she’s learned.
She believes that most officers are honorable and got into the profession for the best of reasons. But it’s a hard job, full of pressure and stress, and sometimes people’s ideals get a little crumpled and scuffed.
Over the years, Nuriddin developed a message focused on helping good officers maintain their integrity, grow as leaders and help build better law enforcement agencies across the nation and the world.
“When I have new officers come in the organization, I sit them down. I say, ‘You need to make sure you find your anchor. What are your values?’ Honesty. Integrity. Honor. They always say something to that effect. I say, ‘If we truly live by those values, we need diversity and equity and inclusion training,’” she said. “Be a person who you say you are. You're a person of integrity? Then be it. You're a person of respect? Be it. And you be it for every single person you come in contact with.”
Gen. Ondra Berry, the Adjutant General of the Nevada National Guard, met Nuriddin as she was developing those skills.
“I used to be, at that time, the Deputy Chief of the Reno Police Department. She had a chance to come up and visit, look at our operations. And she was just hungry to grow and learn and be better,” Gen. Berry said. “And I would even say (she was) a little annoying from the standpoint (that she) was relentless about getting access to being better, getting access to better practices.”
But that hunger for excellence, he said, is what has fueled Hajir’s post-retirement career as a law enforcement trainer. She is an international rock star in the training world because of who she is.
“Who you are as an individual is one of the single most important factors in terms of how you're able to do the profession,” Gen. Berry said. “And you don't see those packages anymore. You don't see that level of commitment anymore. You don't see that work ethic anymore in a mother, spouse, daughter, community leader, advocate, ambassador, champion, you don't see that anymore.”
When somebody like that is standing in front of you and saying that you can be better, he said, you believe them. And that’s why hundreds of law enforcement agencies have hired Nuriddin.
“You want your people to be exposed to what ‘right’ looks like,” Gen. Berry said. “There's a formula for success for anybody. And she understands those foundational principles of what it takes to be successful in this life. And she did it in one of the hardest professions out there.”
Law enforcement is about carrying weapons and working with a bulletproof vest on your chest, he said. Nuriddin did it in a male-dominated culture where there weren’t any shortcuts for Black women. She had to excel.
“That's why it's important to see diversity at all levels in organizations, because it lets people know what's possible,” Gen. Berry said. “Part of her life has been (about) how you take down the barriers or some of the unconscious biases to say, ‘Just create opportunities and systems that are fair and then let people demonstrate the best of who they are.’”
That’s why Nuriddin’s induction into the CSUB Alumni Hall of Fame later this month matters, he said.
“It's about putting those people up there that we can look to and say, ‘That's somebody I want to be like and that's somebody I respect,’” Gen. Berry said.
Nuriddin said she never had an idea she could be named to her university’s Alumni Hall of Fame and it made her feel seen and welcomed and affirmed.
“I'm just honored and humbled,” she said. “I'm not doing what I do for any type of recognition, but to say that recognition is not important would not be authentic. As human beings we're all looking for some type of recognition. That's critical. We all want a sense of belonging. I feel this recognition, this induction shows that I that I'm a part of the Cal State University Bakersfield family, that I belong there.”
The inductees will be recognized at an event taking place on Feb. 15 in downtown Bakersfield. Click here to purchase tickets for the ceremony.
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