QUEENS — Officer Diana Kaouris wears the NYPD uniform proudly, just like all the other officers on the force.
But the six-year veteran, who is currently assigned to the 102nd Precinct, knows how to wear it in her own distinctive way.
Kaouris has about a dozen tattoos, including on her hands and forearms. She also likes to dye her hair in a variety of colors, from purple to red and blue.
And on a recent Friday, she was wearing purple nail polish and had brown sunglasses perched on her blonde-streaked hair.
“I like to still be my own person, even though I’m in uniform,” said Kaouris, 28, who has served at the Richmond Hill precinct since 2011 and is responsible for patrolling Forest Park.
Kaouris, who grew up in the neighborhood, said that she had wanted to be a police officer since she was a little girl.
“I was always interested in criminal justice, law enforcement, crime scenes, anything that involved this lifestyle,” she said.
As a kid, she constantly played cops and robbers and acted out scenes from the 1984 classic film "Ghostbusters," she said.
After graduating from the Police Academy in December 2008, she was assigned to the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, where she was part of a group of rookie officers that helped patrol the area, which has been designated as having high crime.
Several months later, she was transferred to the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway, where she worked in an area plagued by gangs and gun violence, she said.
“It definitely made me grow up,” she said. “In my first week there I watched a guy stabbing another guy in front of police,” she said. "He didn't even care."
Her tattoos, combined with her uniform, can give her a tough look.
An image of the Virgin Mary covers her right forearm. On her left forearm, her last name is tattooed in a decorative script.
She also has the "Serenity Prayer" tattooed on her right arm, wings on her shoulders and her initials in Greek letter on her ribs, said Kaouris, who is of Greek descent.
Her favorite tattoo, she said, is a scorpion, tattooed on her stomach, for her Zodiac sign. It was her first tattoo, which she got when she was 18.
She said she likes to add a new tattoo every couple of years.
“It’s my way of reinventing myself,” she said.
According to the NYPD rules, police officers hired on or after Jan. 1, 2007, are required to keep their tattoos covered.
But Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner, commanding officer of the 102nd Precinct, said that Kaouris' style “is a personal choice."
“I have no issues,” he noted, describing Kaouris as a “self-motivated" person, who "works well with the community.”
Kaouris also changes the color of her hair every couple of months.
“I like the reds and the purples," she said. "I feel it looks better on my complexion and gives me more of a sultry look,” she said, laughing.
When off duty, Kaouris said, she likes to wear ripped denim jackets and black leather boots.
“Leather is always good,” she said.
Kaouris, an avid hiker and bicyclist, started monitoring the nearly 500-acre park last year, when the precinct created a designated unit to monitor the green space in the wake of a string of sexual assaults.
Currently, the unit has three officers who patrol the park on bikes or motorized vehicles.
Members of the unit often split up in order to cover larger portions of the park, she said.
“I do get nervous sometimes,” said Kaouris about patrolling the park by herself.
Most of the time, the unit deals with groups of teenagers, who smoke marijuana, and vandals who cover train overpasses with graffiti, Kaouris said.
In April, she was named “Cop of the month” for catching a number of graffiti vandals, including two she brought down after a foot chase.
But the work can be frustrating sometimes, she said. The green space, which the third-largest park in Queens, is so big that she finds it difficult to patrol it adequately.
“It’s so hard to cover such a vast amount of space and even trying to do so, something can happen and sometimes you won’t even know,” she said.
And while her physical presence may to some seem intimidating, she said she can be a soft touch.
“I cry during ASPCA commercials or a sad part to a movie,” said Kaouris. “I’m a fake tough guy.”
