LITTLE FLOCK — Growing up in San Antonio and Fayetteville, Jesus Martinez never thought about a career in law enforcement.
Two days after graduating from Fayetteville Christian Academy, Martinez was in Marine Corps boot camp. After his tour of duty ended, Martinez returned home and landed a job with Lindsey Property Management, at the complexes in Little Flock.
That was nearly 20 years ago.
When something happened in the complex that required the police, the officers would quickly call Martinez to interpret. Growing up, if he wanted to talk to his grandparents, he had to speak Spanish.
“After a while, the former chief, Ken Parker, told me I needed to become a part-time officer,” Martinez, now 38, said. He did.
Six months later the part-time jobbecame a full-time one.
Now 16 years later, officer Martinez is Police Chief Jesse Martinez.
“I’m Mexican-American - both sets of my grandparents came to Texas from Mexico,” Martinez said. “But I was born in Frankfurt, Germany - Dad was in the Army.”
While his grandparents spoke very basic English, their only useful language was Spanish.
“Growing up there wasn’t a distinction between the two - English and Spanish - it’s just what you spoke. We didn’t know we were learning English or Spanish,” he said.
“I’m pretty sure they were not here legally. Every time we’ve tried to ask that, to figure it out, it’s always hush hush,” he said.
While it may be true, it doesn’t affect who Martinez is. And who he is appears to be this: The first Hispanic police chief in Arkan-sas. Like the immigration status of his grandparents, proving that he’s the first one EVER is probably impossible.
But that’s OK with him because it doesn’t really matter. Does he see it as a challenge, as something that controls the way he works?
“It’s more of a challenge for me to bring my culture to the forefront - so we’re not just seen a blue collar, as laborers,” he said.
“We have ability. I came up through the ranks - I understand that this job is important.”
One thing he faces is that he speaks English without an accent.
“So, a lot of times Hispanic people don’t realize I’m Hispanic until that first word in Spanish comes out of my mouth. Then they open up,” he said. “But it creates more problems forsome Americans, the white population, because of the past.”
Racism?
“Yeah,” he answered.
“There’s a saying: You can never be Mexican enough for a Mexican andnever white enough for the Americans.”
With a number of large apartment complexes in Little Flock, Martinez must deal with a huge variety of nationalities.
“For a long time, for me, everybody was Mexican - that’s the way it was in San Antonio,” he explained. “But up here, you can’t categorize it that way - there’s so many different cultures.
Mexican, El Salvadorans, Guatemalans, so many more. Call them Mexican and they get highly offended.”
He hopes that people don’t look at him differently because he’s Mexican-American.
“When I got into law enforcement you learn they see the color blue - they see the law. That’s what I hope. I hope the don’t see me as anything BUT a police officer,” he said. “But, I’ve had a couple people say I’m a traitor, that I should not do this.
“I tell them I’m here to show we don’t have to fit stereotypes - that we can be pillars of the community. When I talk to kids I tell them ‘Don’t get stuck in a rut - you can make something of yourself.”
“I’ve seen a couple of kids I’ve talked to make great changes in their lives,” he said. “So it gives me a chance to do things with Hispanic kids that white cops can’t. I can communicate on a different level.
“They understand that I’m not too far away from where they are. There is hope.”
Martinez plans to work hard to make sure his time as police chief is looked at by the Hispanic community as something they can take pride in. To that end, he is working hard to integrate the police department into the community at levels it’s never been.
“We’re going to them, it’s not about them coming to us,” Martinez said. “Weare the ones protecting and serving - so we’re going to them.”
Lofty ideas for a guy who two decades ago had no idea that in 2012 he would be police officer, let alone a police chief.
News, Pages 1 on 03/28/2012