As more Latin Americans join the police force and federal law enforcement agencies, the separating lines, are reportedly increasingly blurred.
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Latino officers continue to add much-needed diversity in police departments across the states, although their numbers are far less than desired.

Based on data by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Latinos comprised roughly 12.5 percent of the police force in 2016. This was up from the 1997 percentage of 7.8, an increase of 60 percent.

At the same time, the same statistics stated, "the share of Black police officers" slightly dropped over the same period, to 11.4 from 11.6 percent.

And, even though prism through the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed it is commonly viewed as "Black vs white," Latinos are also reportedly taking positions in "soul-wrenching" arguments over authority of police that has now consumed the whole country.

They are Cops, and They are Latinos

Detective Arturo Martinez said, he's blue, and he's a cop, and he is so proud "to be called a police officer." However, he added, when he retires, he's still a Mexican, "You look as you are."

In 2016, a sniper reportedly shot and killed about five police officers at a protest against Black men's police killings in downtown Dallas. One of the dead was Detective Martinez's close friend, Patricio "Pat" Zamarripa.

After almost four years, 33-yar-old Martinez got into initiating and taking part in a police march dubbed, "Blue Lives for Black Lives Matter," again, in downtown Dallas, to show unity with people who have been demonstrating, according to news reports, since Floyd "cried out, 'I can't breathe' and died in Minneapolis police custody."

An Army veteran with a decade of experience as a police officer, and whose parents are Mexican immigrants, Martinez got criticisms for the recently-held march, "including racist and angry comments on his social media feeds."

But despite the backlash, a lot of his colleagues in the police department, as well as his friends and those he knows through his a part-time job "as 'DJ Turo'" supported him.

Stories of Police Killings

Latinos have their own stories to share about people who experienced police killings. These include the deadly shooting of 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa in California early this month.

Media outlets reported, Monterrosa was kneeling with both hands above his waist when a police officer shot him from his police car's windshield. The officer, according to reports, mistook the hammer the young black man had for a gun.

As more Latin Americans join the police force and federal law enforcement agencies, the separating lines, are reportedly growingly blurred. In 2015, Antonio Zambrano-Montes was apparently shot several times by three cops in Washington.

Specifically, Zambrano-Montes's reported shooters were two white officers and one Latino police. The shooting occurred, according to the report, after the victim allegedly threw rocks at the officers, and at cars. The said enforcers did not face charges.

Last year, a study by the University of Buffalo and University of Washington researchers presented that Latino men were more than 2.6 times as possible as others to be killed by cops from agencies that have higher or more numbers of Hispanic police.

More so, they faced hither risks of a deadly encounter with an officer in neighborhoods and communities that have high-earning inequality.

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