What it’s like to be a Latino police officer in America

“I want to be as clear as I can be on this. Mental health is one of the largest problems we have in society today.” – James Espinoza

Lt. James Espinoza is a 25-year veteran of the Wichita Police Department. His father, John Espinoza, who came from a large Mexican-American family in Hutchinson, Kansas, was also a career police officer. James and Rolf attended Wichita North High School together in the 1980s.

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf speaks with James about his decision to become a police officer (2:30); community policing (11:05); being a rookie on the police force (18:15); dangers involved with the job (25:30) bad police officers versus bad administrative policies (30:00); changes in policing and technology (34:40); mental health (39:15); and what is misunderstood and underappreciated about police officers (43:15).

Notable Links

• Broken windows theory
• Rodney King
• Community policing
• PR24 nightstick
• Police body cameras
• Fleeing felon rule
• Police crisis intervention team (CIT)
• Wichita Massacre (the Carr Brothers)
• BTK Strangler (serial killer)
• USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal
• Stephen Schneider case
• COPS (TV show)
• The Wire (TV show)
• Baltimore Rising (HBO documentary)
• “Smoke & Ride” by Cadence, featuring Ace Trill & Twansac

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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