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BALDWIN PARK : Officer Leaves Force to Become a Priest

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Baldwin Park policeman Christopher Carlos is used to extracting confessions from hard-core gang members before putting them behind bars. Although Carlos is leaving the force, he hopes to continue hearing confessions as a Roman Catholic priest.

“I think this is God’s plan for me,” Carlos said. “Working with gang members really inspired me to want to help them on a full-time basis.”

Carlos, a Covina resident, left the police force last week after serving as a gang investigator the past three years. He will first spend about two years completing his college degree, then spend another four years in the seminary studying to be a priest.

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Carlos said he would find himself in a Police Department interview room asking gang members and other troubled youths why they had committed certain crimes. Some would describe tormented home lives. “These hard-core gang members would break down and cry,” Carlos said. “I felt I had the gift of touching these people. They opened up to me.”

Carlos, 30, admitted that he will miss the action and excitement of police work.

“I’m not leaving here because I’m unhappy,” he said. “It’s a very honorable, satisfying profession.”

Police Chief Carmine Lanza said he wasn’t surprised by Carlos’ decision but was disappointed to lose the veteran of nearly seven years on the force. Carlos has taught the Drug Awareness Resistance Education program in schools and has been both a patrol and crime prevention officer.

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