Longtime San Luis police officer Luis Marquez retires
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Luis Marquez wore a badge and carried a gun like all the other uniformed officer in the San Luis Police Department.
He patrolled the streets like the other officers, but in the end his role came to be one of building ties between the department and residents as a community outreach officer teaching them about accident and crime prevention, among other topics.
And now Marquez has stepped down, recently marking his retirement following a 20-year career with the department.
“I really enjoyed what I did, educating children and parents, (for example) on how to avoid fatalities for lack of using safety seats or seat belts correctly,” he said. “That’s what (the job) gave me, satisfaction in helping and educating the community on preventative topics.”
Teachng parents how to restrain toddlers in a vehicle wasn’t all he did.
He started Neighborhood Watch programs around San Luis. He served as coordinator for races and other events to benefit Arizona Special Olympics, oversaw blood donor campaigns in San Luis to benefit hospitals, and organized an annual Saturday bike ride for families in the city.
And while he was serving in the police department, Marquez was a member of the Gadsden Elementary School District’s governing board. He was elected to the board in 1991 and has been re-elected to successive terms since then.
Marquez, whose twin brother Martin has served as officer with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, himself attended school in Gadsden and grew up in the area. He went on to Arizona Western College’s law enforcement training academy, from which he graduated in 1979.
He was 40 by the time he joined the San Luis Police Department.
“When I go here, the chief was John Miranda, and the first thing they assigned me to do were programs for the community, perhaps because I knew the people and the community knew me, and because they saw in me the facility to communicate with the people.”
During his time coordinating fundraising events to benefit Special Olympics, the San Luis Police Department consistently ranked in the top 10 among all law enforcement agencies in Arizona that contributed funds to the organization that hosts competitions for athletes with special needs.
As as coordinator of blood drives in San Luis to benefit United Blood Services, he supervised campaigns that collected a total of nearly 15,000 pints of blood for hospitals and emergency rooms around Arizona.
“I learned a lot and I took as much as could out of every experience, from directing traffic, to coordinating cleanup campaigns and organizing activities to benefit Special Olympics. I hope those programs continue and that whoever does it does it from the heart. It’s a lot of work. A lot of people don’t believe it but it takes a lot of effort and a lot of persuasion to get people to support it and participate.”
Marquez’s tenure was not without controversy. In 2017, David Lara, a community activist in San Luis, filed a complaint with the police department accusing Marquez of identity theft. The complaint stemmed from Marquez’s time as a board member of the nowdefunct San Luis Police Athletic League, and it alleged Marquez had falsely listed current or former police department employees as fellow members in documents filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission.
The complaint was investigated by SLPD and then the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office and the referred to the Yuma County Attorney’s Office. The county attorney’s office says it is still reviewing the complaint and could not comment on it.
Lara, who in June staged a vigil in front of the Yuma County Justice Department calling on County Attorney Jon Smith to prosecute Marquez, declined to comment for this story.
Marquez said he will continue serving community, although no longer as an officer. “I will dedicate more time to my family, to my wife, my three children and nine grandchildren.”
Two of his sons have followed in his footsteps into law enforcement — son Luis as a Yuma police officer and Robert as an Arizona Department of Corrections officer.
And in January be begins another four-year term as a school board member.