WB Police Detective B. Neral
Police detectives are often portrayed in TV and film as hardboiled, gruff cynics and, as such, are rarely based on reality.
A 10-year police veteran, Detective B. Neral has been working for the Wrightsville Beach Police Department for the past four years, hav-ing
started her career in law enforcement as a patrol officer five years prior for the City of Wilmington. As a wife and a mother to multiple
children — one of whom has special needs — along with attending school full time and working as a police officer full time, Neral has
every right to portray that battle-hardened persona we think of when one thinks of a seasoned detective. Instead, she has an effervescence
and a passion for helping others that underline her impressive work ethic. “If it’s what you want to do, you make it work.”
Ever since she was a little girl she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life. It was her grandfather, a heroic police sergeant who
was killed in the line of duty during a bank robbery in New Jersey, who influenced her to pursue her career. “He was such an amazing
person that had a huge impact on me. There were even books written about him. But I have a lot of other first responders, firefighters and
military in the family, too.”
The Wrightsville Beach Police Department has experienced some attrition over the last few years and there are a lot of new officers. Neral
does not see this as a negative. “We’re a team and everyone helps each other in their strengths and
weaknesses here. I can say everyone here creates an amazing dynamic. We all fit unique
niches. It’s very well-rounded,” she says.
Working in Wrightsville Beach presents unique challenges for the
police force. “The town goes from zero to 100 in the summertime,
so keeping busy in the off-season is important. There’s no gated
bridge, so the majority of people we are arresting are coming
from out of town. And the residents are a lot more coopera-tive
and helpful than in some other communities because
they have a genuine vested interest, which allows us to
solve a lot more crimes by working with the commu-nity
here,” Neral says.
As a female detective with seniority, she is
indeed breaking stereotypes but does not give
any credence to being at any disadvantage
because of her gender. She says you need to be
able to get there when the time comes, speak-ing
of being smaller in stature and a woman
in uniform during altercations, “But I use
my being a woman as an advantage because
you’re not as threatening and you can reason
with people and defuse situations. Maybe
other female police officers have had differ-ent
experiences, but I can honestly say that I
have never experienced anything — because I
was a woman — that held me back. But I also
wouldn’t see that as an excuse — if I fail at some-thing,
I don’t say it’s because I’m small or a female,
it just means I sucked at it and then I try harder next
time. I was raised that if you fail, there is no quitting,
you just work your butt off to get to where you want to
go,” says Neral.
She plans to continue her education by obtaining her
master’s degree and hopes to, one day, join the federal level of law
enforcement.
Detective B. Neral dusts a knife for fingerprints at the Wrightsville Beach
Police Department.
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WBM june 2019