CityView Magazine

Tracey Bass-Caine and uses her super sleuth skills to make life better for many in our community. Lieutenant Bass-Caine has worked for the Fayetteville Police Department for 22 years and is the highest ranked black female on the department – there has not been another black female lieutenant since 1995. Currently she is assigned to the Operations Support Bu- D reau and is responsible for supervising three units: Homicide, Special Victims and Cyber Crimes. Most recently, the major- ity of her time has been dedicated to coordinating and pre- paring the historic Beldon-Horne house to be the site of the first Family Justice Center in Fayetteville. Like many others on the force, she landed in Fayetteville on't let the pretty face fool you. While Tracey Bass- Caine has done some modeling in shows from time to time as a hobby, she is a force to be reckoned with aſter leaving the military behind at Fort Bragg in 1989. She sailed through the qualifications process aſter seeing a listing posted for police officers with the Fayetteville Police Depart- ment. And that's when this law enforcement star was born. "Although I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a patrol officer, I really found my niche as a School Resource Officer; where I was assigned to the former Hillcrest Middle School, which is now Max Abbott Middle School," said Tracey. "I loved work- ing with children, so I decided to apply for a detective posi- tion within the Youth Services Unit, where I spent 11 years as a juvenile detective, investigating physical and sexual abuse of children." She has learned the complicated and delicate balance re- quired to juggle work and family. Tracey is married to a re- 62 | January/February • 2012 D tired U.S. Marine and has an adult daughter. Tracey jokes that having two type-A personalities in the house makes for interesting discussions. With her ten years of supervisory ex- perience under her belt on the force, her retired career Ma- rine seems to have met his match. While Tracey really enjoys cooking, her job duties do not allow her the time to indulge in it as much as she would like. Her friends and family sing her praises when she does cook, but at this stage of her life, she said she is lucky to have a spouse who takes on the cooking and household chores. Her experience being part of the Fayetteville Police De- partment team has aided her personally as well. "It has al- lowed me to grow into the person, leader, and friend I pride myself in being. Through my mentors (past and present) I have become a person who is sought out by my peers, as well as those within the higher echelon of the department," Tracey said. Outside of work Tracey has numerous interests and hob- bies to include her love for fishing, making jewelry, modeling, drawing, working out, badminton, basketball, gardening, puzzle books and other word games along with spending time with her family and friends — especially her three nieces. Tracey plans to retire from the Police Department in eight years, but has no plans to slow down. Instead she would love to use her masters degree in Criminal Justice Administration to teach. She also has penned several short stories over the years and would like to finish and publish some children's books. This city gal knows how to kick back too – she hopes to buy a small fishing boat and spend time nabbing the not- so-deadliest catch.

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