My friend Matt Domyancic, the chaplain for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, texted me one night recently. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news …”
Not the way you want to start a conversation.
Matt ordinarily fires me up with stories of his advocacy for the first responder community, but this was not to be a motivational conversation. Matt told me that Alexandra “Lexi” Harris, a 38-year-old member of the Seattle Police Department, was killed on June 13 while stopping on the side of the road to render care in a multivehicle crash.
Harris was driving home from a difficult shift and stopped of her own volition. Perhaps other officers would not have done so, bone-tired and not technically on duty. But that is not who Lexi was. And so, tragically, the Seattle PD had lost its Wonder Woman.
I was stunned and speechless at the news of this loss. You might ask how I, a 26-year veteran of the CIA who writes and speaks on leadership and has been an advocate for wellness and healthcare in the intelligence community, has any connection to Lexi?
Well, several months ago, I went on The Leaderist podcast, an amazing program that was run by two Seattle police officers. Those officers being Lexi and her best friend, Cali Hinzman. They were not ordinary police officers. They were, in fact, quite extraordinary. Lexi and Cali talked about the need to stay fit, both physically and mentally. How they employed mediation, yoga, and martial arts, all to better themselves and make themselves more complete police officers.
Lexi and Cali listened to my story of health struggles with traumatic brain injury and how a wellness program at Walter Reed’s National Intrepid Center of Excellence got me back on my feet. Their interest in me was not with the sympathy of a layperson but of a fellow public servant on the front lines. A fellow patriot who believed in proactive versus reactive healthcare and the need to treat those who have served this country selflessly. I loved that about them. I was honored to be on their podcast and left a better person even after just 90 minutes of a lively, inspirational, and at times emotional discussion.
I later talked to Matt and told him that “those are two of the most impressive police officers, and people, I have ever met.” And then came the terrible news. I exchanged numerous texts with Matt in the days after I learned of Lexi’s passing. Matt expressed to me what so many in the Seattle community know so well. Lexi was everything that you wanted in a police officer. She was the quintessential role model. She excelled in fitness, firearms, and fight training. She believed in wellness, nutrition, and that both physical and mental health were mandatory requirements in what is the most stressful of professions.
In my world of intelligence and special operations, I have met many heroes who people will never know. They stand on the ramparts and protect our great nation but do so with no need of fanfare or adulation. Lexi fit that bill perfectly. She was no doubt a true badass (I say that having known many over the years). Lexi exhibited the highest professional standards for a public servant. She was empathetic and compassionate to the community she served. She truly believed in the ideals of public service. Amazingly, even on the front lines of violent protests last year when she was subject to angry people who at times exhibited awful behavior toward the police, she never became angry. Lexi simply never had anything bad to say about her fellow Seattle residents.
So how should we celebrate Lexi and honor her now?
First, let us acknowledge that policing is a terribly difficult profession. Put aside politics. America is too often on fire, a country divided. But police officers are on the front line. I hope that Lexi’s story humanizes the badge. Matt told me that the whole country needs to see the humanity of the police officer that Lexi embodied. She had brains, a huge heart, but also was a fitness fanatic, martial arts competitor, and she took her tactical training and shooting more seriously than a majority of her peers. She was, and for all eternity will be, an inspiration. I hope that police officers will look to her story for motivation as they pick up their badge and gun every day and head into harm’s way.
It is equally imperative that we promote Lexi’s belief in proactive physical and mental health training for first responders. Lexi was the prototype health-conscious warrior. This is how we honor her: Let Lexi’s legacy be one that mandates wellness for first responders and that removes the stigma of mental health from policing. Lexi’s legacy will be one that improves and saves lives.
RIP, Lexi. Those of us who have a public voice will ensure that your memory endures. I recently looked back and found the last email exchange that I had with Lexi. She stated, “It was such a pleasure speaking to you Marc! I really look forward to reading your book.” I sent her an advance copy of my book before it was released in early June. I don’t know if she ever had a chance to read it.
Marc Polymeropoulos is a former CIA senior operations officer. He retired in 2019 after a 26-year career serving in the Near East and South Asia. His book Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the CIA was published in June 2021 by Harper Collins.
