Before The Badge: Officer Rob Sandoval, Collegiate Rower In Phoenix

Phoenix AZ

20 April, 2021

5:48 AM

Description

Press release from the City of Phoenix: April 18, 2021 Phoenix Police officers come from many different backgrounds, including different careers. The department's video series, 'Before the Badge,' is profiling some of those careers, and the diversity they bring to the department today. Any team sport that is going to be successful requires teamwork from each and every member. Community Action Officer Rob Sandoval will tell you that is certainly true in the sport of rowing. He knows firsthand from his years on the University of Notre Dame men's rowing team. "If someone lifts their oar a little bit high on one side, it changes the set of the boat and it doesn't go as fast," Officer Sandoval explained of rowing. "If we're not hitting in the water and driving through at the same time, the boat won't go as fast. So, in order to be as fast as you can as a team, everyone has to do their job." While on the Notre Dame team, Sandoval sat eight seat in the boat. That is the seat closest to the coxswain, also known as the stroke. He rowed while working toward two degrees — one in government and international studies, and one in economics. "I was looking at originally going into maybe politics or wall street — some kind of business," Officer Sandoval explained. "And I decided I didn't want to do either of those. I kind of wanted to do something that I felt like was making more of a difference in people's day-to-day lives." Shortly after his graduation, news that his mom had cancer brought him back to Phoenix. He hopped around a few opportunities in the following several years, before applying to the Phoenix Police Department. He began the academy in 2005. "So my first four-and-a-half years were in the Maryvale Precinct," Officer Sandoval said. "I was on just one of the regular patrol squads for a little bit. Then I went to be a field training officer where we helped train the new officers straight out of the academy." He has also worked as a detective in family investigations and domestic violence, and now is a community action officer. From the boat to the badge, he says there is a similarity through it all. "Not everyone always has the same job," Officer Sandoval explained. "But you all have to work together as one unit in order to be the best that you can to achieve whatever goal you're going after at that time, whether it was making a boat go fast or it's keeping citizens safe." Officer Sandoval has kept up with rowing, starting a team at Phoenix Police — a club sport that competes against other police and fire departments, encouraging regular exercise for strength building and mental health, and fostering that team mentality. This press release was produced by the City of Phoenix. The views expressed here are the author's own.