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| Henry Diaz in his squad car. |
Henry Diaz is a throwback, the kind of cop who knows just about everybody on his beat.
He's a police officer who understands his town of Sanger, Calif., population about 25,000, because he's part of it. He is Sanger, which is generally poor and 80 percent nonwhite. He was raised in the notorious Chankla neighborhood, the son of a hard-working single immigrant mom who wanted the best for her children. He went to Jefferson Elementary. He graduated from Sanger High in 1994.
"He's the same guy, the same person I met years ago," said his wife, Maricela Diaz. "He's very humble. He likes people, and he's very friendly."
She said she was pleasantly surprised when she learned her husband of 17 years was named Officer of the Year by the Sanger Police Department in early April. Yet, she was a little concerned that the online posting of the news would generate snide comments, since police officers these days aren't often getting the greatest press.
She shouldn't have worried.
The initial Sanger Herald Facebook post about Henry Diaz receiving the honor in early April garnered 226 likes, 15 shares and a then-record more than 4,400 views. The brief post and photo about Diaz getting named Officer of the Year generated scads of comments like this one from Bobby and Denise Perez: "Congratulations Henry. You (are) a great role model for our Kids! Sanger is lucky to (have an) Officer like You."
And this from Jason Boust: "Very well deserved."
And this from Jessica Guerra: "Congratulations to my compadre Henry! Sanger is blessed to have an officer like Henry."
Diaz is the kind of officer who stands in stark contrast to the negative publicity given to police officers nationwide by the plethora of cell phone videos chronicling abuses against suspects. He's the counter argument — the guy people know and trust.
On the Today Show on April 29, seven police officers and sergeants from across the country met with NBC correspondent Kate Snow to talk about what it's like to work the streets in what the news program described as "a climate of distrust after a string of deaths and other incidents involving officers."
Sgt. Frank Escobedo of Houston put it this way: "Don't be afraid of us. We're human."
Los Angeles police Officer Deon Joseph told Snow that he grew up in LA, coming of age during the Rodney King incident and listening to music from groups like NWA. "I was indoctrinated like many young African Americans that the police were your enemy." Then he joined the police force and learned "90 percent about what I heard about officers just wasn't true."
Diaz understands that street-side perspective. Because of his hardscrabble upbringing and the early economic hardships he faced, he knows the challenges of those he now interacts with as a police officer on a daily basis. He knows their issues, their situations and the handicaps they must overcome just to function as part of society.
He knows many of them personally. And they know him.
"I know a lot of people," Diaz said. He was driving around the city of Sanger in a just-washed mid-size SUV, answering calls and checking potential hotspots. "I've lived here all my life. What I grew up knowing in the neighborhood — I learned it's respect.
"You show what you're trying to do, which is uphold the law. You respect them, and they'll respect you back. It's knowing how to talk with people. I know how to talk with people."
Diaz said he'd rather talk down a suspect than use force.
"Not that I can't take care of myself," he said.
Diaz, 39, has the look. He can be imposing and then totally disarming when gives a big grin. When he exits his police cruiser, dark glasses on and his big hands on his belt, he fits the role of peace keeper.
Over several hours during the sun-baked afternoon of April 24, he interacted with about a dozen people and answered several calls.
Diaz pulled up to Sanger Park, stopped and got out. Several men sat in the shade. They nodded to him.
"Everything's all good," one said.
Diaz talked to them, mostly informally. The men joked that they were just "sitting at the conference table" and discussing important issues of the day. "Chillin'."
Back in the vehicle, after talking with yet another man who walked across the street to say hello, Diaz explained that he had to arrest the man at the conference table at some point in the past. The man had been under duress, and the situation could have turned deadly if he hadn't backed down. The man put the knife down, "and I said, 'You and I are good?'" Diaz recalled. The man nodded.
Diaz took him in but treated him fairly.
"I would rather treat him with respect because I don't know if I'm out here, if I'm losing (in a conflict with a suspect) and George comes by — I would hope he'd give me a hand," Diaz said. "Whereas if somebody treated him like dirt, he's just going to pass them by or laugh."
Diaz gets the nod from the establishment as well. Sanger Mayor Joshua Mitchell said everybody likes Diaz. He said the officer once helped him at 1:30 a.m. one day close the jammed overhead door to his business "just because that's what kind of guy he is," Mitchell said.
Sanger Police Chief Silver Rodriguez had his own story to tell about Diaz. He recounted the incident at the 91st Annual Sanger Chamber Awards Banquet.
Rodriguez said a call came in to dispatch about something happening at an apartment complex. Diaz was the first to arrive. He encountered a scene that would startle even the most veteran police officer — an elderly woman running and covered in blood. She was being chased by a man brandishing a large knife.
"The man had a crazed look," Rodriguez said. "The man stopped (when he saw Diaz). Then ran off. Diaz chased him."
But the man eluded Diaz and somehow caught the woman. He held a knife to her throat. He threatened to harm her.
"He was hopped up on drugs," Rodriguez said. "Diaz maneuvered around and got (in position)."
Diaz fired his taser, avoiding injuring the woman, and other officers who had showed up to provide support disarmed the man and pulled the woman away. Rodriguez said all the officers deserved credit for diffusing a potentially deadly encounter. "This was a critical situation," he said. "They acted very calm and cool and poised. And they saved this lady's life."
Diaz decided to become an officer soon after his first son died in 2006. The boy, Julian, was just four months old. The middle of one night, Diaz said he awoke and checked on Julian. "His color was not right," Diaz said. The baby was unresponsive. Diaz called 911. Three officers showed up to help. Those officers, two of whom were Manuel Duran and Sgt. Fred Sanders, did all they could. The third officer, Jones, later asked, "Is that why you became an officer?"
Diaz had to nod. It was.
"That touched me," he said. "Immediately I said, 'That's what I want to do.' I want to help people out. I want to at least change one person's life."
Getting the badge wasn't easy. Diaz worked in the automotive industry. Becoming a cop meant going back to school.
Maricela said they had two children then and having Henry quit his job was difficult financially. "It was not easy with one income, but we were able to make it work," she said.
Diaz has been wearing the uniform ever since. He and Maricela have three children, Sheyla, 14, Maritza, 8, and Aleeah, 1 1/2.
He does continue some of the skills he picked up in past jobs. He played drums for the highly successful Sanger band Los Vaquetones and continues to stay in touch with his old bandmates. Maricela said he limits his drumming to their church band these days, however.
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