Retired cop produces police documentary

2016 is set to be one of the most dangerous years for officers wearing a badge. A retired sergeant from Soledad is using film to give people a better understanding of the challenges officers face. So far this year more than 160 on-duty officers have been shot in the United States, and more than 30 of those instances were fatal.

“It’s a documentary feature film on line of duty officer deaths and how they affect the public and the families and basically it’s going to touch on all the things you don’t see,” said director Thomas Marchese.

Retired Soledad police sergeant Thomas Marchese is the writer and director of “Fallen,” and although it’s not the reason why he chose to make the film, he had a near death experience while patrolling in Soledad.

“I was stabbed at work, this kid was in the process of murdering his grandparents and we entered the home and I was stabbed multiple times and I ended up retiring due to those injuries,” said Marchese.

A police officer is killed every 53 hours, and those in law enforcement said the death toll would be even higher if it wasn’t for bullet proof vests, helmets and other safety equipment they wear.

“The point of the film is to illustrate that police are human, they’re people plain and simple, and that’s what the public forgets,” said Marchese.

“There are a lot of negative posts on social media regarding our profession, however, there are those people that are vocal about supporting us,” said Detective Michael Rivera, Salinas Police.

According to reports, investigating calls from the public, serving warrants and making routine car stops are some of the most dangerous circumstances for police.

“An officer doesn’t know what he’s approaching when making a vehicle stop. We do train our officers to realize that some people will act differently when stopped, we know that some people will be extremely afraid, some people will be embarrassed, some people will be angry,” said Detective Rivera.

The number of officers shot and killed on the job is up nearly 78 percent from 2015.

“I think that the officers should be trained a little bit better, but I also feel like all the police shootings right now, it’s not helping because the officers are more on the defense,” said Salinas resident, Gloria Torrez.

Across the nation, there are mixed feelings about who’s been the victim in recent officer-involved shootings, but Marchese said the purpose of “Fallen” isn’t to change someone’s mind.

“It’s going to be very educational to people that don’t have any kind of family in law enforcement or they’re not involved at all and they’ve got set opinions about how police work is and what police officers face day to day, and how a police death affects everyone around. They are definitely going to come away maybe not with their minds changed, but they are definitely going to come away more educated,” said Marchese.

The director hopes to have several local screenings in the next six months.