Hegerty joined the MPD in 1976 as one of its first female officers, rising to the positions of lieutenant and captain; the first woman to hold either, before being appointed as a Marshal by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
[1][2](p12) As chief, Hegerty was credited with re-introducing the gang department, reworking the discipline system, and reassigning officers from working desk jobs to the streets.
Executive director of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission David Heard credited her with being "able to assist in raising our hiring standards".
While Mayor Tom Barrett described her as "a class act", saying that he "respect[ed] her very much as a person, as an administrator, [and] as a law enforcement official", The Rev.
Rolen Womack of Progressive Baptist Church claimed she failed to make Milwaukee a better city, calling her "a nice person", but saying that she was not held to the same standards as previous chiefs.
Willie Hines, the president of the Milwaukee Common Council, credited Hegerty in several areas, including "working toward restoration of the department's image and relations with the citizenry".