Residents with Down syndrome become honorary cops

Thursday was no ordinary day for 15-year-old Jesse Burgos of Calexico.

Crystal Burgos, Jesse’s sister, said, “He woke up full of excitement saying, I’m going to go work with the police.”

Jesse is one of four locals with Down Syndrome whom Calexico Police made honorary officers – one of them the police chief. Thursday, March 21 st , is World Down Syndrome Day.

Calexico Police Chief Gonzalo Gerardo said, “We started this morning by pinning little lapel badge and our patch on them. And we went ahead made [them] honorary chief and his crew.”

It was a day full of police work.

Officer Sean Acuna said, “We took them on a ride-along to get a sense of what it’s like to be a police officer. And we’re mainly here to show them that the police are their friends. We’re here to help them in need.”

Officer Anthony Aguirre said, “We had a traffic stop, showing him how we conduct a traffic stop. My partner was excited.”

“Saw a lot of joy, saw admiration, excitement. They saw us do some enforcement stops, contacting members of the public. They got to hear the radio traffic and how a police officer responds to a call for service,” Acuna added.

This is the first event of its kind in the city.

“There are a lot of citizens out there that have special needs and they’re good people that we forget about,” Gerardo said.

“He was very alert of things, looking at everything. When they turned on the sirens, they sped up a little bit and he got that adrenalin. That was really nice to see,” Burgos said.

World Down Syndrome Day has been officially observed by the united nations for the past 7 years.

“If we can make them happy, some of these young men have wishes to be police officers and they might not be able to do it, but if I can make them for one day feel like police officers, we’re going to do that,” Gerardo said.