Llanina Rosalia Medina (Nina) has worked for San Diego Police department for over 29 years. Throughout her career she has worked in Southeast Division a predominated multi racial community. Nina loved this community and, in these years, has come to know many of the residents and community leaders. Because her love for this community she excelled in becoming one of the best detectives in this Division. Throughout the years, she has been a true advocate for bridging issues with law enforcement and the community, but also for championing the causes for women in Law Enforcement.
It is easy to see the passion Nina has had working with the police department and the community. In 1996, Nina took part in developing a unique conference, which brought together first responders from both sides of the international border. The event known as the first Binational Training Conference brought over 400 Law Enforcement and Fire personnel participants from both sides of the US/ Mexico border and was held in Tijuana Mexico. The conference was considered as great success due in no small part due to the volunteering efforts of volunteers like then Dispatcher Nina Cochran.
While attending the San Diego Police Academy Nina also became President of the City of San Diego Latino Employee Association. As their president, Nina successfully advocated for causes which affected the members in her association. She persistently networked with community and city leaders to bridge common issues that affected the community. To this day Nina continues to network and have professional relationships with these leaders. On her off time Nina mentored at risk young Latina females in the community. She also directed and trained civilian volunteered in an interpreters program for San Diego Police Department.
As a young police officer, Nina joined the newly formed NLPOA Metro Chapter. She was assigned to work in Southeastern San Diego, this area is a predominating lower social economic area mainly populated by Latinos, African American and Asian. The area is considered at times as a high crime area however Nina’s passion for working community type policing thrived. Back when there were no body worn cameras on officers, Nina created the first Domestic Violence Video Unit. This unique unit helped curve these types of violence and held suspects accountable for their actions. The unit gained national notoriety and was even featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The unit subsequently helped bring domestic violence to the fore front of society.
Nina is quite tenacious when it comes to criminal investigations. It was not uncommon for her to conduct an investigation with very little leads and subsequently arrest a suspect on the case. She was even commended in solving these types of crimes while pregnant working behind a desk. Nina is very thoughtful and looks at the future of her department so it is quite common for her in mentoring officers and young detectives on various policing techniques. Her knowledge of street gangs in South East San Diego is exemplary. It is not uncommon for detectives from other specialized unit such as Homicide to seek her assistance.
As a NLPOA member for over 29 years, Nina has worked on various positon on the board. She once took the initiative and created a fund raising event for a fallen officer’s family. The officer unfortunately was killed in an off duty motorcycle accident. The fund raiser was an event, unlike any our Chapter had ever put on, and was held at a local casino in San Diego. The event was a huge success and raised a substantial amount of money for the officer’s family.
Nina is not afraid to expression her Mexican heritage. For the last 11 years during “Dias del los Muertos”, Nina has displayed an alter honoring the fallen Police Officers in our county. Each year she is invited by the Old Town San Diego Committee to showcase this altar. When she first started this tradition, there was resentment from some of our chapter members who knew nothing of the tradition and thought of it as sacrilegious. As time went on (and two animated movies later) members began to understand the significates of this event.
Even before Nina joined the NLPOA, she has been networking with community leaders. These long lasting relationships have only helped our organization and the police department. She keeps apprise of what is going on by being a member and actively participate in various community groups such as Mexican American Women’s National Group, and the San Ysidro Women’s Group just to name a few. Nina became the first Latina president, for the San Diego Metro Chapter. The Chapter with over 300 members thrives on community services, and mentorships of their Officers. Nina did not hesitate when it was time to support one of our own. A few years ago, two officers were shot while responding to a disturbance call. The officers worked in one of our smaller divisions, so Nina organized a luncheon for the rest of the officers when they came back to work in show of our support for them and their families. This is now a standard with our chapter, helping our community as well as our own.
Nina does not stop advocating for issues that affect our officers in the field. Recently Nina noticed a potential problem with how bilingual officers were translating. Our officers now are required to wear Body Worn Cameras, a manner of how they translated became issue. Nina quickly brought this issue to the attention of the Chief Office and the potential consequences it would cause later if not corrected. Nina assisted with SDPD Training Division on revising the Department Policy.
Nina is currently the Western Regional Vice president of the NLPOA. Throughout the many years associated with our organization, Llanina Rosalia Medina has shown leadership, courage, and a compassion for the community. In truth an overall love for the law enforcement family. Most recently, Nina co-chaired in organizing the 50 th NLPOA conference celebration. The event which brought VIP and NLPOA members from throughout the nation was a great success. This was due in no small part to Nina’s commitment to the organization .
Respectfully submitted,
Carlos E Medina
Past President of the San Diego Metro Chapter
NLPOA Lifetime member +41
