Erica Trevino: First Deaf Female Police Officer in Texas

In 2018, a Police Department in the United States hired the first Deaf female Police Officer in the State of Texas and the second in the United States, Her name is Erica Trevino, she dreamed of being a police officer since she was a little girl and she has achieved it.

Erica Trevino (photo: KFDANewsChannel10)

Although it was her childhood dream, many people told her she couldn't be a police officer because she was deaf. She proved everybody wrong and in 2018 she was sworn in as a police officer in the city of Dalhart, a small town of about 8,000 people in the state of Texas.

Dalhart's police chief said of Erica:

I believe she can do the job just like any other other police officer, She has proven time and time again that she can and will overcome those obstacles. She has her bachelor's degree in forensic science, she graduated 3rd from her class in the Academy, she's very intelligent and articulate

Erica Trevino (photo: Drew Powell ABC 7 News)

Indeed, Erica earned a Bachelor Degree in Forensic Science from Texas A&M University, the sixth largest university in the United States. She uses a cochlear implant and, in addition to English, she speaks American Sign Language, Spanish Sign Language, a little Spanish and other Sign Languages, so she believes that will be an advantage especially when she has to serve deaf people. Here he can be seen in an interview in Sign Language:

Erica passed the same police tests as the rest of the Department and has demonstrated many skills but she also found many people who objected, people who told her that she could not be a police officer because she was deaf. She said about it:

I'm not going to let anyone tell me what I can do and what I cannot do. So I decided to become a police officer. It's been a long, hard path, but here I am

To do her job, the Dalhart Police Department uses text messaging for calls to Erica even though she can listen to radio calls and will always have a partner during her shifts. In this other video, as indicated by the Dalhart Police Chief, you can see how Erica is fluent in both English and American Sign Language:

Erica is now 27 years old, the mother of a 5-year-old daughter. Her next goal is to become an investigator in the Police Criminal Department. Sure she will succeed, she is an amazing woman.

I look forward to beginning my time serving the City of Dalhart and I hope I can inspire other people to follow their dream and know that anything is possible if you work hard enough for it

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