This is a woman who WILL NOT be named! She works as an undercover narcotics agent. She truly IS one tough lady. Read on to find out how she ended up in such an amazing job:

GZ: How did you get into law enforcement?
UC: On a dare. I was working in a dead end, do nothing job. A desk job. A co-worker told me the local police department was giving a test.

GZ: What did the test involve?
UC: First a written test. I passed that and got tested in physical agility, had a medical check-up, a five hour psychological test that included an IQ test - I did really well on that part, I shocked myself! And then I had to take an oral part. I was interviewed by a board of 6 people that included community leaders and police brass. After all was said and done, I came up 10th out of 576 candidates. They offered jobs to the top ten of us including one other woman besides me who has since moved on to the state police.

GZ: But even if you did so well on the tests, that's not a reason in itself to become a cop. You must have been interested in it . . .
UC: I was always kind of interested in it -- something so completely different. I really wanted the challenge.

GZ: Did you want to prove something to yourself, or someone in particular, or the rest of the world?
UC: Just myself.

GZ: So what did you do after you got offered the job?
UC: Two weeks in local in-house training. Then I had to go away for 14 weeks to a municipal police academy. There were 34 of us, 6 women from all over the state.

GZ: Did it feel awkward to be in such a minority?
UC: No - I was too busy. It was so totally different than what I was used to . . . Run in the morning, 15 minutes for breakfast, then class, class, class, class. And later on it was defensive driving lessons, hours spent on the shooting range, mock incidents. And it was quasi-military, like if your bed wasn't made according to specs you lost a privilege, like going off campus on a Wednesday night. I went to bed exhausted every night. Graduated 7th in that group of 34.

GZ: What came next?
UC: Patrol officer for 8 years. Then I took a promotional exam for detective, passed it and was a plainclothes detective for 5 years.

GZ: What'd you do?
UC: Investigated major felonies and crimes, like homicide. . . I make a nice murder book. (chuckle)

GZ: Murder book?
UC: Yeah, the paperwork for a normal patrol case is 2 to 3 pages. For a homicide you use a 3-ring binder and fill it with photos and lots of detailed paperwork. I like murders. That sounds funny to say. But they're challenging.

GZ: How so?
UC: It's like playing Jeopardy -- you have the answers, now you have to put together all the questions to get to that answer. Who, what, why, where, when.

GZ: Do things get tied up neatly?
UC: No. It's not like, the guy's guilty and I arrest him. You have strict legal guidelines that must be followed. If you deviate from them, you could lose the case on a technicality.

GZ: So how did you get into the undercover narcotics work?
UC: It was another assignment. It was offered to me. Nothing glamorous.

GZ: How long have you been doing it?
UC: About 2 years.

GZ: IS IT SCARY?
UC: Yeah, it can be. You always have to be on your toes. But then -- it's scary driving in snow. You just have to use your head, use common sense.

GZ: Are you ever in situations where you're too scared to use common sense?
UC: You have to teach yourself self-control. You learn that if you lose it, the whole situation becomes volatile. When I was a rookie in uniform, there were a lot of times when I had to consciously take a deep breath and get a grip. Like when you're walking a beat and a bar fight spills out in front of you and suddenly you're in the middle of it and there's 50 eyeballs and they're staring at you and they hate you just because you of what you're wearing.

GZ: What did you do?
UC: You hold your ground until back up comes. You have to do what you have to do. It's sort of not about being afraid. For me it's becoming acutely aware of everything around me, I use all my senses. How can I explain it . . . You may be afraid to go down into a dark cellar. So you don't go. You have that luxury. I have to go. It's my job. My equivalent of a dark cellar could be a house or an apartment or bar. The target will say meet me at such and such a parking lot. Maybe I'll get into his or her car. And we'll negotiate a drug transaction. It could be anything -- crack, heroin, cocaine, marijuana.

GZ: How do you prepare yourself for these encounters?
UC: I talk to myself before I go in. It's acting, for maybe 2 minutes or an hour of contact. And I have to have a lot of trust in my back-up team. That's four or more officers, always including one sergeant, who monitor me either visually or with audio. There's certain signals I use if I'm in trouble. That if I use them, they know to come in no matter what. And I in turn, have an obligation and a duty to other officers' safety. So it's less about protecting myself than about doing my job.

GZ: Like a baby-sitter may feel more brave when she feels protective of the kids she 's watching than when she's alone?
UC: Exactly. And any rookie that tells you he hasn't been afraid is a lying sack of poo-poo!

GZ: Can I quote you on that?
UC: I think what it all boils down to is duty, training and experience to overcome what you know as fear. I've done some really stupid stuff in gaining that experience that helps me today . . . And it helps if you can learn how to take a joke. When I work I take on a persona. It's a job. Just like when you go to work, you sit down at your desk and do your job. I do that too. And I let a lot of things slide, it's nothing personal. If someone is arrested, it's very personal for them. They lose their rights. I try to say, Look, my job ran into your situation. Nothing personal. You can always escalate a situation; it's much harder to deflate it. Some people have thanked me afterwards. Yeah. I think female officers tend to see the human side. We can definitely subdue a situation with just words more easily than most men can. Don't get me wrong. They try.

GZ: What about being a woman in what many view as a man's job?
UC: I make sure I still feel feminine, but I get the job done. When I had to wear a uniform I'd wear the nicest matching underwear. That was my femininity.

Also, I don't take offense at other people's notions of my abilities. Like when a call comes in and I'm dispatched and the person comes to the door and sees me and says, Oh, I wanted a real cop. That doesn't mean I'm less capable. I let a lot of things slide. You have to, especially when you're 5'1" and 43 years old, working with 27 year old muscle-bound guys. This one guy told me that I sounded nervous when I was driving 30 mph in reverse and maintaining eye contact with my target and talking with another officer on the radio and I said, Nervous?
Listen pal, I was walking the beat when you were worried about false ID. . .

Read MORE about girls and their underwear!

GZ: Do you have any especially proud moments?
UC: I had an officer pay me the best compliment. He was in this really big jam -- a guy was trying to get his gun away from him. He later told me, Thank God you were the first one on the scene. I knew I could depend on you -- I somehow ended up on this guy's shoulders from behind and got him to get his hands off the officer's gun.

GZ: Wow! You sound like Jackie Chan!
UC: NOT.

GZ: What do you like most about working in law enforcement?
UC: People. It's all communication with people. Either by words or actions. You're constantly communicating. And nothing is average, nothing is routine. Every situation can turn on you. Same domestic, for same family, same complaint -- the 6th night, Sally can whip out a gun or a knife. I find it challenging. I would die in an office setting.

GZ: Would you recommend this job to girls?
UC: Definitely.

GZ: What advise would you add, besides don't take things personally on the job, stand up for yourself, have a sense of humor?
UC: Get a criminal justice, psychology or communications degree. Some police departments now require a 4 year college degree. Used to be you just needed a GED. They're finding that more educated people are easier to manage, and make smarter, more mature decisions.