After 30 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Lt. Brenda Cambra retired this past week, ending a career that included more than a dozen years of service at the SCV Sheriff’s Station.

Cambra joined the department during a hiring push in the late 80s when the department was planning to put a detention center Mira Loma, the now-defunct high desert jail west of Lancaster that’s seen several uses since its opening.

Cambra fondly remembers her start in the custody portion, and noted Mira Loma, after being used by other agencies and then going unused, is now being looked at once again as a women’s prison.

“It was a different atmosphere,” she said, noting it was more of an open-air, barracks-style jail, which is less common to see. “They had fresh air, it was a little more relaxed dorms in an old-fashioned way, (the detention areas) were more barrack-style.”

Cambra came to the Santa Clarita Valley in February 2003, named a watch commander, the person who essentially oversees day-to-day operations/shift command at the station.

“I really enjoyed working here in Santa Clarita, and being able to try and solve neighborhood problems — I liked when we formed the CPU and Zone Leaders and how they worked well with the community, and provided some accountability for the community on nuisance issues,” she said. “And for the last three years, I’ve been working with the Detective Bureau, which represents a fine quality of law enforcement — they’re dedicated, hard working and they really care about the community.”

Prior to that, she was a sergeant then promoted to acting lieutenant at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station. She came to the CV from the Sheriff’s Information Bureau, after spending time as a detective for a unit that was then called the Juvenile Investigations Bureau, which is now known as the Special Victims Unit.

It was there Cambra had one of her most memorable stories, and investigation into two parents who had brought their baby, who was in distress, to a hospital miles from their home in an effort to cover up an abusive past.

The baby ultimately sustained a brain injury that ended up being fatal, and the parents were charged based on evidence Cambra investigated and found.

“I’d always been interested in being a detective, I liked the investigation part,” Cambra said. “I like the way you can actually have an effect on something and make a difference.”

The mother ended up taking a plea deal that put her in prison for approximately 15 years, Cambra said, and the father ended up fleeing the country, and has not been found.

Another story of a lighter nature was when station officials were searching for a missing teen in the Santa Clara River wash and ran into a woman who claimed her lab could help.

The deputies were skeptical, but in search of a teenager, were willing to give it a try. Sure enough, the homeless woman’s dog led deputies to where the child was in a parking lot not too far away.

Cambra said she definitely will miss working with the community, although she indicated she might have some travel plans in her immediate future.

“And like everyone says,” Cambra said, “you don’t necessarily miss the job, but you miss the people.”