Each morning Miguel Torres transforms from a caring church servant to a Philadelphia narcotics officer. His life depends on the transformation. It’s not that he casts aside his humanity or his integrity. Rather, he straps on an air of distrust and of readiness that allows him to brook no challenge from some of the most dangerous characters in the City of Brotherly Love.
“My mentality is that each morning when I’m driving to work I go through a change,” Torres shared. “I have to put aside the softer side of church service and prepare myself to confront violent people that would just as soon shoot me as to talk to me. Unfortunately, I can’t use everything the church teaches me about human relations out on the street. If so, I couldn’t survive.”
Survive he has, however, and one could say Torres thrives in a life of polar opposites. For more than nine years he has toiled in the mean streets of Philadelphia with a group of narcotics officers who depend on each other for their lives. He and his team carry a demeanor consistent with the streets, seeking out drug dealers and removing them from the neighborhoods they afflict. After hours and on weekends, Torres dons a suit and serves voluntarily in positions unique to his church: the stake high council or a bishopric. He is a member of the Pennypack Ward of the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“After working for the state of Pennsylvania, I applied to join the Philadelphia police force in 1994. I eventually started in 1996,” Torres said. “I fulfilled a childhood desire to be a police officer and for several years I was a uniformed patrol officer. The only problem was that my schedule rotated throughout the week and I frequently worked on Sunday. I began to pray for an opportunity that allowed me to have the Sabbath free. Soon, I was approached about becoming a narcotics officer, which would guarantee my Sundays off.”
To suggest that police work is not a casual nine to five job would be an understatement given the amount and nature of societal crime today. The men and women who patrol America’s metropolitan neighborhoods occupy one of the most dangerous professions in the United States. Tracking down drug traffickers and users, however, takes a risky job to a whole new level of danger. Therefore, if one aspires to be a narcotics officer, they better get along with their co-workers.
“It’s a teamwork environment and each member of our team knows what to do and we often figure it out on the run,” Torres said. “We spend a lot of time together. I think I spend more time with my fellow officers than I do with my own family. But the fact we function as a team almost exclusively and have done so for so long means we know each other’s tendencies and in a crisis can react with full confidence to situations.”
Because Torres and his companions spend many hours conducting surveillance, they’ve come to know each other’s families, life stories, and passions.
“One of the things I appreciate about my guys is that although they are not members of my church, they respect my values. They know I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. And they know I won’t put up with certain things such as pornography.”
Torres’ team knows the positions he’s held in his church over the years and even though they may not understand the ramifications of being a member of a bishopric, they respect his commitment to the Church.
“They’ve had a hard time understanding my commitment to paying tithing, especially because they know my salary,” Torres explained. “But I tell them that what they spend in alcohol and tobacco, I give to the Church.”
On a Sabbath morning, Torres looks the part of a devoted church member. Dressed in a sharp, dark suit with white shirt and tie, hair combed perfectly with a smooth face, one can hardly imagine how he manages to filter into crime-infested communities during the week. And his devotion to the gospel goes far beyond his clothes to include his message to his fellow members and his concern for his brothers who are sick or less active.
“The gospel of Jesus Christ has taught me that we are all God’s children regardless of our circumstances or the decisions we’ve made. That knowledge helps me when dealing with some of the people I meet every day, but it also increases my respect for the fellow officers that I work with who don’t share my faith, but who willingly risk their lives for me and each other.”
Torres’ respect for the men with whom he labors is such that he has on several occasions turned down invitations to take promotional tests that would mean leaving the narcotics unit.
“I’m not suggesting that I find any satisfaction dealing with some of the people I must confront on the street, but at the end of the day there is satisfaction with removing drugs from neighborhoods where dealers literally prey on people,” Torres said. “One is faced with a lot of temptation such as drugs, prostitution, and we see a lot of money. But I look at the job I have and consider it an honor to serve. I wouldn’t want to bring shame to my family.
“My philosophy on the street is that if you treat me with respect, I’ll treat you with respect and most of the people that I come into contact with accept that. However, I can make it clear that if someone intends to hurt me, I’m going to hurt them.
“We see three cultures, so-to-speak in the city,” Torres said. “You have people coming into the inner city to buy drugs. If you try to stop them, they will usually run. They aren’t generally hostile to deal with.
“Another culture of people buys and sell drugs and for them it is more of a business. If you stop them, they will usually cooperate so that they can return to their business as soon as possible. It’s not in their best interest to put up a fight.
“The third culture, however, is the most dangerous. Buying drugs is just one aspect of their criminality. They carry guns, are very confrontational, and are willing to fight. We have to be very much on guard in dealing with them.”
The dangers present on Philadelphia streets became very real for Torres in the last year when he and his team discovered what they thought was a drug deal in the making.
While parked on a side street watching some activity further down the block, a man strolled past Torres’ unmarked car and joined the group of men Torres’ team had been watching. Within moments the situation escalated into a fight and the man who had passed the officers’ car took a blow in the head and ran bleeding from the encounter. As Torres’ and his fellow officers exited their car, the half-dozen males at the end of the block saw them and immediately split up running into nearby homes.
“At this point, another officer and myself followed two of the individuals to a house, kicked open the door, ran in. We ordered the two males to hit the floor, but the first one chose to get into a wrestling match with me. During the confrontation, I suffered a head injury that resulted in a concussion. Fortunately, my companion was able to take the first guy down while the second male remained on the floor. We later realized the guy I had been wrestling with had had a gun and could have fired through the door at us or the second male could have joined fight and grabbed the gun,” Torres related.
Though Torres was out of action for three months recovering from his injury, he realized he had been greatly blessed by the Lord even though he had failed to be as fully alert to the dangers encountered in that house as he should have been.
“It confirmed to me that the Lord was watching over me. I’ve had the confirmation several times in my career,” Torres said. “But I’m a firm believer that the Lord will only protect me when I’m doing what I should be doing. When it’s time for us to leave this life, we will be taken, but not a moment sooner.”
Leave a Reply