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AMERICA'S TOUGHEST COP ALIVE
PAGE 4 of 4

"Very few people will ever know what it's like to drive 'lights and siren' down a main boulevard chasing a car thief. I've done it."

GS: Tell us a little about your background
AT: I grew up in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. That's a suburb of Newark, which is a real rough city, rougher than L.A. But Upper Montclair is a real nice middle-class suburb in northern New Jersey. It's a real pretty town.

GS: Were there any other Asians in your neighborhood?
AT: I don't remember any. When I was a kid, I was very cognizant of the fact that I was Asian, more so by other people's reactions toward me than my family life. My family was a mainstream family. My father is a full-blooded Chinese American and my mom is half-Irish and half-Japanese. My parents only spoke English. I was raised as a Catholic. We had no real contact, except during the holidays, with Asians of any sort.

GS: Do you recall much racism when you were growing up?
AT: When you're a kid the other kids tease you. At the time I didn't understand it and it probably put me in a shell. But I didn't experience any racism that I was aware of.

GS: What is your educational background?
AT: I went to college at Fordham University in the Bronx. After I graduated I was commissioned in the Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. I served at Camp Pendleton [near San Diego] as an infantry officer for three years. After I left the Marines I went back to New Jersey and took some graduate courses and also obtained my emergency medical technician rating and worked as a medic in Newark for about a year. But I decided it was too cold and I wasn't really going anywhere. In February 1990 I decided to come out here and become a police officer.

GS: What was your first impression of police work? Is it what you expected it to be?
AT: It was better. The first division that I worked at was Rampart, which is the busiest division in the city. That's where I did my rookie year. I loved it. I couldn't believe how busy we were. Being a police officer is the most challenging job I've ever had, and I've done a lot of stuff. You have to go from catching criminals one hour to helping a little old lady the next hour. It's very difficult. Only in the police department are you given the power to take someone's liberty away from them. I can do that at any time in the city of Los Angeles if I have a reason to. That's a lot of responsibility to give to a person and expect them to be perfect at all times. If they're not perfect or reasonably perfect, then they can go to jail. But it's very rewarding. The people I work with are the best.

GS: Do you think the media portray the LAPD unfairly?
AT: We don't get a lot of good press. People make a big fuss about police officers when they're dead, how they served their community and gave the ultimate sacrifice and all that stuff. And it's true, but 98% of the time people don't see police officers because we're dealing with the element that they don't want to deal with. The wife-beaters, child abusers, rapists, murderers. It happens every day. We see it all the time. I grew up the same way you did, you know, watching cartoons and going to church. But this is our job and we have to deal with that.

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