9/28/2023 0 Comments Compton fire badgeHe attended Dominguez High School then transferred to Torrance High School where he ran track and played basketball. Nelson doesn’t recall when his perception of law enforcement started to shift, but he knows school and family played a role. Tustin Police Officer of the Year Robert Nelson talks about how he wound up with the TPD. “They’re going to learn not to like the police.” “If we don’t do things like this more often, children in those neighborhoods are going to grow up just like I did,” he said. Nelson’s weekly stops play a part in that. Police actively work to quell this impression by forging relationships with residents through events and community policing. The apprehension to reach out to the police is mostly driven by fear - fear if they report something they may be victims of retaliation, or fear they might be deported. Tustin police have put a concerted outreach effort to some neighborhoods historically known for gang activity, higher crime rates and residents’ hesitancy to call for help. Strangers will sometimes pay for Nelson’s meal at local restaurants or stop and thank him - gestures that still surprise him.īut, in pockets of the community, there are shades of the police distrust that Nelson grew up with and that’s where the officer hopes to make the greatest impact. Unlike where he grew up, the Tustin PD overall has a positive relationship with the community they serve. “I had a natural dislike for police work until I got older and I got to experience life outside of my city.” “I was socialized to not like police,” he said. Nelson learned to live among violence and he learned the relationship with law enforcement was a contentious one.Ĭhildren in his neighborhood didn’t ask for homework help or play catch with officers because when the police were around, it was not a positive thing. Not because of their gang life, but because of their commitment to family.” “I looked up to them for different reasons. “They were the same people who helped take my grandmother’s trash out every week,” he said. Growing up in Compton was a strange dichotomy: In some ways, Nelson respected the very gang members who showed him the life he didn’t want. “I was always the guy they hoped would get out.” “Even if I wanted to hang out with them, they wouldn’t allow me to. “I was always treated differently,” he said. Many of the kids he grew up with joined local gangs, but Nelson, an honor student and high school athlete, didn’t socialize in those circles. Nelson asks about their homework and grades.Ī lot of what he sees in these neighborhoods reminds him of where he grew up.Ĭrowded living and no parking were characteristics of the streets in his Compton neighborhood where he was raised by his mother, grandmother and uncle. Nelson gets out of his car to toss a football around or challenges the neighborhood kids to a pushup contest. On Friday afternoons, Nelson makes a point to stop in the neighborhoods of south Tustin.Ĭhildren run across their lawns to the sidewalk and wave him down. The 30-year-old officer wants to shift the perception some have of the profession and make a positive impact, especially in the community where he grew up - a goal he keeps in mind during every patrol shift in Tustin. Striving for change is part of what led Nelson to law enforcement and part of what drives him in his work today. Strange for the Compton kid who didn’t like cops, let alone aspire to ever be one. “I welcome that and appreciate that, but it feels a little strange.” “It’s the biggest compliment possible that it was voted on by (my peers),” he said. Nelson doesn’t keep track of his arrests, but said he wrote a lot of reports in his first year, casually concluding he didn’t have any stand-out arrests or big cases to highlight.īut his colleagues saw something that not only prompted them to nominate Nelson, but also select him to win. “Because I work a lot, I get exposed to a lot of different things.” “I want to experience the most that I can as fast as I can,” he said. In his first year, he helped out with assignments in the gang unit, special enforcement detail and an undercover operation. “Anything he can do to help this organization, he does.” “He’s always open to constructive criticism and is never defensive,” Coe said. Ryan Coe.Ĭoe said Nelson is eager to learn and jumps at the chance to take on extra assignments and help his colleagues. “Not only is he one of the kindest officers I’ve ever known, he’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met,” said Sgt. His supervisors and colleagues, however, weren’t as surprised. Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC Officer Robert Nelson receives the Officer of the Year award during the Tustin Police Department’s Awards Banquet.
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