PORTRAITS Michelle Rutherford

GRACEFUL, COMPOSED, AND ELE-gancly slim, 28-year-old Michelle Rutherford looks more fashion model than tough cop. And thanks to her peers at the Dallas Junior League, this Dallas Police Department detective recently got the chance to be a bit of both when they nominated her to be part of the national public awareness campaign “Picture What Women Do.” Exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the campaign’s display captured on film the typical workday of 100 women across the country, including Tipper Core and U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder. An eight-year veteran on the force, Rutherford was pictured discussing cases with two lieutenants, driving in her patrol car, and speaking to a church group of 9-year-old kids.

A native Dallasite, Rutherford opted for a law enforcement career as a way to help others. A fierce believer in volunteerism, she’s also active in The Women’s Guild of United Cerebral Palsy, The Chance Center, and The Women’s Center of Dallas. “I believe,” she says, “that if God has given to you, then you must give back.”

Add to the big picture of Rutherford’s life a new husband; she met Al when his company provided security for an En Vogue concert. And the role model she’ll follow for her future family? “My mother,” Rutherford says, smiling radiantly. She encouraged me to be, and do, anything I dreamed. So, I told her, quite seriously, I’d be the first female president of the United States!”