Pedro Domingo Hernández Martín was born in the Orotavense neighborhood of Los Poyos, in the San Isidro neighborhood, and from 1983 to 2022 he has been part of the Local Police staff, the last 12 years as its head. He was a goalkeeper at UD Orotava, Atlético Orotava, Los Pinos and UD Matanza, and leaves police work with the satisfaction of having fulfilled his duty, like when he kept a clean sheet.
Why did you become the Local Police of La Orotava?
It all started at the end of 1981, I had just left the barracks and was out of work. My mother found out that there were going to be positions for the Local Police in La Orotava and she told me about it. I didn’t want to, I told him that I wasn’t going to prepare and that’s how we spent some time debating. Until shortly after she told me that she had applied on my behalf. We argued, but I went unprepared because my intention was to find something else. I presented myself at the time when Francisco Sánchez was mayor. Of course I didn’t pass because I hadn’t prepared for it. But in the summer, after the festivities in La Orotava, they called a group of boys that we had not approved to offer us to fill the free places that had remained, as interims. You couldn’t say no and that’s how I arrived, on August 3, 1983. On my first day of work, I left my parents’ house in Los Poyos, and passing in front of the old Bar Parada, where I used to meet with my friends, I lowered my head and passed almost secretly so that no one would see me. Once I was inside, I began to like it, I began to be comfortable and I decided to prepare again for the oppositions, which came out in 1986. Then I did manage to approve the place as a property, along with 11 other colleagues. It was the largest incorporation of new police officers in the history of La Orotava. And just that day, while I was celebrating, again at Bar Parada, my wife announced that she was pregnant with our first child. They were unforgettable moments.
How do you get to the La Orotava Local Police Headquarters?
In 1996 he introduced me to the corporal positions of that time, currently officers. It was precisely in the year in which the new offices of the Local Police of La Orotava were inaugurated, where I worked as a corporal until October 2010. I was then on a trip to Zaragoza, with my wife, when I received a call from the chief and the councilman, that I am summoned for an urgent meeting in the mayor’s office. As soon as I return to the island, they tell me that the chief is going to another assignment and that they want me to take the position of chief officer on a provisional basis. I couldn’t say no. It was a temporary thing and in the end it lasted almost 12 years, between 2010 and 2022. Since I was already in command, I had experience, although the general leadership had nothing to do with it. I have had the great fortune of having an incredible human team, who have always behaved wonderfully with me. They have always responded and offered me their help at all times.
How has the Local Police changed since its incorporation in the 1980s to the present day?
Phew! It has nothing to do with it. And not only the Local Police, but life in general. When I entered, my first week of service was at night and back then you entered at twelve at night and left at seven in the morning. You worked six days in a row and rested one. You had practically no time to do anything other than work and sleep. I remember, for example, going to the neighborhoods on a bus. He left us in La Perdoma, on the edge of La Orotava, and we came walking to the town. Resources were lacking, we practically only had a typewriter, and the first stations seemed like a defense, they weighed more than two kilos. Now everything is different: the way the police intervene, the treatment of the citizen, the technical means, the uniformity, the vehicles, the facilities of the headquarters, the coordination, the powers… It has nothing to do with it.
What advice would you give to someone who is now starting or wants to become a Local Police?
The most important thing is knowing how to attend to citizens, knowing how to treat them. We are municipal police officers, the first ones that citizens go to in case of problems. And the first thing he always told the new police officers is that the priority should be to serve the citizen in good manners. Though that doesn’t mean he’s always right. Knowing how to treat people is key. When the National Police began to talk about the proximity police, I always thought that the proximity police of all life is the Local Police. In my case, I always kept in mind how important it is to go to the squares to talk to people, especially the elderly who are sitting on the benches. They told you everything that happened, day by day. The older ones know almost everything. And he always repeated it: neighbors are our best source of information.
What have been the worst moments of these 40 years?
We have had very difficult times, such as fires, storms, robberies, home break-ins… but for me the worst, what left a mark on me, were the interventions with deceased minors. I remember in the late ’80s or early ’90s we had three or four cases of drownings of little kids, ages 3 to 11, and they were having a really hard time. My children were those ages and I wondered what could be said to those parents in such hard times.
And the best moments?
We have experienced very important and happy moments, such as when rescues, fires or accidents end satisfactorily and people get ahead. When human lives are at stake and they are saved, that is unforgettable. Helping save a life is the greatest thing that can happen to you.
He has had to leave after almost two very complicated years due to the coronavirus pandemic…
Yes, it has been almost two very hard years. Especially the first few months, when we didn’t really know what we were facing. Everything was fear then and it was very complicated.
And the staff of the Local Police of La Orotava has suffered directly and dramatically from the impact of Covid-19…
Unfortunately one of our colleagues is no longer here because of this damn virus, and we have another colleague who managed to overcome it after a lot of suffering, but who continues to have a very bad time due to the consequences it has left him.
Who do you remember in this farewell?
Of the family; of all the colleagues who have worked by my side in all these years; of the Councilor for Security, Narciso Pérez, whom I have to publicly thank for all his support in very difficult times and his predisposition to always help and collaborate. I consider that we have formed a very good working couple, which has allowed us to get a lot of things forward. I can say that, after hundreds of interventions and thousands of hours at this headquarters, he has been a friend. Also of the three mayors I have had, who have trusted my work. And, of course, the new chief officer of the Local Police, Ignacio Sánchez Marrero, to whom I wish all the luck in the world in this new stage.
