Facing Down Fear : Police Hopefuls Undeterred by Slayings of Officers

No cop joins the force thinking it will happen to him or her.

But in the past year, nine law enforcement officers in Southern California have been slain in the line of duty. Among the most recent: Martin Ganz, a Manhattan Beach police officer and former Buena Park Police Department Explorer Scout, and Christy Lynne Hamilton, a Los Angeles Police Department rookie.

With the images of sobbing police officers at Hamilton’s funeral still fresh in their minds, some teen-agers who dream of becoming cops are stopping to think about the dangers--and deciding that the job is still worth it.

Craig Heredia, a 19-year-old traffic division intern in the Westminster Police Department, said he knows that somewhere a bullet might have his name on it.

“I’ve thought about it,” said Heredia, captain of his Explorer post. “But I’ve had this dream of being a cop forever. I know there’s a chance I could get killed, but I don’t want to give up my dream ‘cause I’m scared of getting shot.”

Connieann Sancheza, a 17-year-old Anaheim Explorer, has dreamed of police work since she was 7. Other officers have told her she will make a good cop, she said, because she is careful. Still, she knows that as an officer, “You may be able to retire, or you may not.” She wants to take the chance.

“When you think about it, you do start getting scared of going out there,” Sancheza said. “But nothing is going to change my mind if I want to do something.”

Police psychologists say that when veteran officers and deputies lose one of their own, especially someone they knew, they often take it harder than younger officers. For some, it may be the last straw.

But young cadets and people training to be police tend to see death as a remote possibility, say psychologists who work with police.

“A young deputy feels that if they’re the good guy, well-trained, well-equipped and doing the right thing, they’re in control,” said Susan Saxe-Clifford, a psychologist who works with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and several police agencies. But in many of the recent slayings, “the officers had those things going for them . . . and it didn’t help.”

Mario Escamilla, a Buena Park Explorer, recalled that he got his first taste of dealing with fear and grief when teachers at the training academy played a dispatch tape of an officer being killed in a gun battle.

“It was to show us how scary it is,” said Escamilla, 18. “And it could really change your outlook. We lit candles, and there were Explorers crying.”

But Escamilla said he tries not to think about getting hurt.

“These days, there’s danger in every job,” he said. “I can accept it.”

The Explorer Scouts, an arm of the Boy Scouts of America that introduces youths to careers in law enforcement, attracts them for a variety of reasons, such as working outside and being part of a team, Explorers say. And there is the influence of Hollywood.

“As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a cop,” Heredia said. “Ever since I watched Ponch and Jon on ‘CHiPS.’ ”

Rosa De La Torre, a cadet with the Arcadia Police Department and a lieutenant in the Monrovia Explorers, said the attraction for her is the opportunity to aid children. And she knows that in doing it, she takes a chance.

“As an Explorer, once during a ride-along our car got shot at,” she said. “People out there don’t care what uniform you wear, they just shoot.”

Still, she said, “if you’re going to be a police officer, you have to go through (the fear). I like knowing you’re going out there to help a family, and having the feeling you helped somebody.”

Richard Alvarez, an 11th-grader at San Pedro High School who recently won a Los Angeles County leadership award for Explorers, said he is drawn to the profession because “most officers never let anyone else control their destiny. When they’re out there, they just believe in themselves and go for it.”

But the fallacy of that premise has become increasingly evident in the last year.

Two Compton police officers--both in their 20s--were shot execution-style during a traffic stop in February, 1993, and a Garden Grove officer was killed a month later. A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy was killed in May, and an Oxnard police officer was shot to death in December. An Orange County sheriff’s deputy was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow deputy on Christmas Day.

On Valentine’s Day, two Palos Verdes Estates police officers were shot and killed during a seminar at a South Bay hotel. Then on Feb. 22 came the loss of Hamilton, slain by a 17-year-old who committed suicide.

Such problems are not confined to Southern California--three Boston-area police officers, including the chief of a suburban department, were killed in the line of duty in a five-day period in early February.

Shiloh Coleman, 18, said he understands the risks. And he still wants to be a cop.

Coleman, 18, just landed a job as an Irvine cadet, a part-time junior officer. It means he can quit a job at the Price Club, but he said it worries his girlfriend because he is a step closer to making a dangerous job his permanent one.

Like many other law enforcement aspirants, he has a relative who was an officer--an uncle. Coleman also has another reason for his career choice: “They need good cops.

“I want to be one of those officers that use community-based policing,” said Coleman, a thin, soft-spoken Irvine Valley College student.

Heredia said he tries to put the danger of police work out of his mind.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, when you point a gun at a bad guy, they’re going to stop and do what you say,” he said.

“But then, you never know when that 1% is going to hit you.”