Maria LaVita ‘96 wasn’t a history major while an undergraduate student at Fitchburg State University, but her name will forever be etched into the annals of the Revere Police Department after being named its first female police chief. The distinction extends to the whole of Suffolk County, in fact.
“Everybody says it’s a big deal,” said LaVita, the 27th chief of police for the city of Revere. “I would be remiss to not acknowledge that. But just as my male counterparts did, I worked hard and put the time in. Historically, it’s been a male-dominated profession and the fact that women got a late start means it takes longer to get the training and the experience needed for chief positions and other high leadership roles, it takes decades. I think we’re going to see more women across the country in these roles.”
Acknowledging a shared history of breaking barriers, Fitchburg State University President Donna Hodge celebrated the historic appointment.
“As Fitchburg State’s first woman president, I am deeply proud to celebrate alumna Maria LaVita as the first woman to lead the Revere Police Department,” Hodge said. “Her historic appointment is more than a milestone—it is a testament to persistence, excellence, and the power of education to open doors. Chief LaVita has put in the work, earned the respect, and now stands as a model of courage and leadership for the next generation.”
The 51-year-old LaVita – a 1992 graduate of Revere High School – has certainly paid her dues, working her way up the ranks and displaying unwavering loyalty to the city of Revere. She started out as a patrol officer with the Revere Police Department in 1996 and was eventually promoted to sergeant (2009), lieutenant (2017) and captain (2021).
LaVita was tagged as the interim police chief on June 3, but by the end of July was sworn in as the permanent chief.
“It’s a really great honor,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot. I worked closely with the previous chief, so I definitely had an advantage coming in with having experience in hiring and some of other administrative roles that I was assisting on. It was good for me to jump right in and make some decisions that were positive and got things moving in the right direction.”
LaVita says the transition has been a little bit of a whirlwind, but “it’s good stress at this point.”
“I’ve worked really hard and the support has been great, internally and externally,” she said. “The job is tough, not only for me but for all the officers in the department. The day-to-day becomes a grind, so I’m so happy to see a shift in wellness nationwide for police officers –that includes behavioral health, mental health and overall wellness. We give our officers opportunities to work out, and those are the types of programs that I want to expand on. The shift toward wellness is making police officers more resilient. We work on taking care of our own here and obviously that makes us better able to take care of the community.”
Community policing means a lot to LaVita.
“Community engagement, I can’t overemphasize how important that is,” she said. “People need to trust the police. It’s the best way to keep the community safe.”
She loves her hometown and says it’s an honor to still represent her community.
“It’s so cool that I grew up here and here I am as chief of the police department,” LaVita said. “It’s been a great place to work including people within the department, people that work for the city, the community as a whole. The city is on the rise right now and it’s amazing to watch and I”m honored to be a part of it.”
As Fitchburg State’s first woman president, I am deeply proud to celebrate alumna Maria LaVita as the first woman to lead the Revere Police Department. Her historic appointment is more than a milestone—it is a testament to persistence, excellence, and the power of education to open doors. Chief LaVita has put in the work, earned the respect, and now stands as a model of courage and leadership for the next generation.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being at home.
“You form bonds with the people that you work with,” LaVita said. “It’s never been too much of a thought to leave. I’m so glad that I’m still here and able to experience a fulfilling career here in Revere. But I also think it’s important to the department because it signals to the men and women that work here that we’re hiring from within. They have a chance to lead this department if they stay. Now, more than ever, you want to keep your police officers here. You invested in them, you trained them and you want to make it a good environment that they want to stay here. Recruitment and retention are two words that you hear from across the country when it comes to law enforcement. It does go a long way for people to see their own be promoted up to police chief.”
Becoming a police chief was never a goal for LaVita. She says it just “happened over time.” LaVita continued to roll up her sleeves and worked hard each and every day.
“I just did my job as I went,” she said. “Every job I had I just focused on that. As I progressed in my career, even five years ago, I wasn’t really thinking too much about it. As time went on, it seemed like it was time and I felt ready. I definitely did not feel ready until this last year or two, where I literally started thinking, ‘I think I can do this, I know I can do this.’”
LaVita says her education, which started at Fitchburg State, has been a springboard to her professional career.
“I had such a great experience at Fitchburg State,” LaVita said. “I had such great professors.”
She also was a four-year softball athlete, along with playing soccer for two years and field hockey for one.
“I still have all the gear,” LaVita said. “Everything that is green of mine, is Fitchburg.”
While LaVita started out as a film major, she eventually switched to psychology and earned her bachelor’s degree in 1996.
“I took Psychology 101 and I thought that it was really interesting and I was really into it,” she said.
She also earned a minor in criminal justice.
“I really like the science behind psychology, and I felt criminal justice was missing that,” LaVita said. “I wanted to go into experimental psychology, researching memory. My friends were taking the police exam, so I took it and it lined up and I got hired and made the decision to go to the police academy.”
LaVita graduated from the Canton Police Academy in 1996. She started her policing career in Revere after graduating, and during that time also pursued higher education by completing her master’s degree in criminal justice administration, and eventually earning her law degree from New England Law Boston.
“I use my psychology degree more than the law degree,” LaVita said. “If you think about law enforcement and dealing with people in crisis, and even knowing how to motivate people, it’s all psychology and it’s all communication. Knowing how to talk to people and when to listen is so important. That psychology degree has been really useful.”
Having a Fitchburg State education has been extremely useful, too.
“It’s a great school and a great community,” LaVita said. “It hit me during the pandemic that my classmates who are now nurses, police officers, human service workers and teachers, we all worked during the pandemic. We would check in on each other because unlike other professions, we had to come to work everyday. It hit me then how important people that I went to school with are. The alumni of Fitchburg State keep society healthy, safe and educated. What’s more important than that? If I had the chance, I’d choose Fitchburg State all over again.”