The life of a Latin SWAT officer

Ricardo Baca is an officer with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office and a member of the city's SWAT team. Every day he patrols the city with the housing authority division in East Tulsa, and when needed he offers his services as a sniper for the specialized SWAT team.

A native of Bolivia, Baca speaks Spanish fluently and is always attentive to the needs of the community.

“There has been a change recently in the city, we feel that the Hispanic community has opened up,” Baca said. “There are six law enforcement officers at 21 and Garnett who are there to serve the community before anything else.”

Baca knows that his work is hard, although not many understand it.

“The responsibility is great, because in this profession we don't have the advantage of being wrong, we have to be ready for anything and not doubt ourselves,” he said.

As a member of the SWAT team the mission is to register immediate threats in the places where they are intended to serve.

“Before my team enters a house I have to check all my weak points, such as windows, check that no one is armed, so that everyone is safe. When there is a kidnapping of a child, for example, and there are weapons involved, my job is to stop the threat,” he said with conviction.

Being a sniper is a huge responsibility that requires years of study and practice, you need to know a lot of math to calculate distances well and always have a cold mind to make the right decision.

“I can shoot if I see danger, I don't need to ask for permission,” Baca said, adding that he is capable of shooting at a distance of up to 700 meters.

"Thank God Tulsa is very calm and I’ve never had to shoot anyone,” he said, “but everything is still very stressful, because we have to be ready in case the time comes. But I have not had to do it.”

Law enforcement is not only dangerous work, but also painful, eliciting strong emotions are lived that are difficult to erase.

“It is very difficult for me to work when there are children involved. Entering a house and seeing that there are parents doing bad things in front of children reaches my soul very strong,” Baca acknowledged.

But helping Baca recover from these anxieties is the faith and comfort of the family, and “with prayer and trust, everything is solved,” said the sniper.

To all the young people in the city, Baca, gives only one piece of advice, to listen more to adults to avoid making bad decisions. (La Semana)