Erica Trevino's dreams were realized Wednesday morning in Dalhart as she swore in as the first commissioned deaf female peace officer in Texas. “Ever since I was a young girl I wanted to be a police officer or in the military,” Trevino says. Many people told her that wouldn't possible.
“I believed it then as I got older I realized - you know what? I’m not going to let anybody dictate my life and tell me what I can and cannot do. So I started on the long hard path towards becoming a police officer,” Trevino explains.
The journey to becoming a peace officer wasn't without it's difficulties. “It’s been a hard path. A lot of negative people, and there were also people who tried to block my advancement but I just kept going because I had a goal in mind and I was going to reach it no matter what anybody said,” Trevino says.
She overcame initial adversity and achieved her goal, but there are still some who question and doubt her ability.
“I hope that I can open the minds of a lot of people. If that means proving people wrong along the way so be it,” Trevino says.
“It's been done before,” Trevino explains. Several other young men and one woman in the United States are sworn peace officers. “Not security or unarmed peace officers but actual peace officers,” Trevino adds.
For the most part, Trevino has received praise and support. After Trevino announced on Facebook she was now a peace officer, the post went viral. The initial post was liked by thousands, shared hundreds times and Trevino's story was picked up by several news sites. Trevino never anticipated the amount of attention it would get.
“It’s crazy,” Trevino says, “I had no idea this would go viral when I shared my original post to my family and friends! But I didn’t do this for the publicity, it’s a bit overwhelming and I may shut down my Facebook when I start FTO so I can focus on my job and not all the craziness. But it’s such a relief to see so much people who have encouraging words to say because all my life I’ve heard mostly negative things about my hearing.”
No matter what though, Trevino plans to continue working hard. Eventually, she would like to make it into criminal investigations. For now, Trevino says: “I will serve and be the best officer I can be.”