At NIOT.org/COPS, we profile leaders in the law enforcement community who are working to make a difference in their towns and schools. This month we profile Detective Rudy Perez, the Region 9 director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.

In school, Rudy Perez was a special education student.

The middle child of Guatemalan immigrants living in the projects of Los Angeles, Perez wasn’t reading at grade level and stuttered when he spoke. Surrounded by gangs, drugs, and gunfire in Pacoima, his parents fought to get him into good schools and connected him with a church youth group.

“We came here with nothing. Were we very poor? Yes, but we didn’t feel it. I had a caring adult. That’s what makes a difference in all of this,” Perez said.

It’s because of his parents’ sacrifice and dedication to their children that Perez says he was able to make the meaningful connections that kept him on the right track.

Now 35, he’s the Region 9 director of the National Association of School Resource Officers and a detective with the Los Angeles School Police Department, working directly with children facing similar problems he did.

“The odds were always against me. I know what it’s like to be those kids,” he said.

A Calling for School Policing

This April, Perez will be celebrating 14 years with the LASPD. It’s his interactions with police while working as a junior lifeguard at 13 that cemented his career path.

“I knew before anything I wanted to be a school cop,” he said.  “I want to work with young kids and give them a hand up like I was given.”

Read the full profile of Detective Rudy Perez, School Resource Officer, at NIOT.org/COPS. [1]