Excited, the new Deputy Commissioner for Inclusion and Equity, Wendy Garcia, speaks after being proclaimed the first highest-ranking Dominican-American in the NYPD.
“It was something that I never imagined, you work your whole life with a purpose but you don’t know where you stop, where you end up,” Garcia said.
A native of Washington Heights, Garcia says she grew up watching her single mother work up to three jobs to make ends meet while being very supportive in the community.
“A family that really invested in my education, and they also invested in their time and support,” Garcia added.
At 16, they moved to Delaware, where he went to college to study international relations.
When she was 19 years old, while Wendy was working as a translator for victims of domestic violence, a social worker told her that she could not continue helping the victim due to lack of resources. Garcia says that moment determined her future.
“I said I’m going to work for the government.”
Upon graduating from the University of Delaware, he returned to New York to study for a master’s degree in urban policy.
His first government job was as a liaison for the Manhattan Borough President in 2006.
Garcia. Deputy Commissioner for Inclusion and Equity. NYPD.
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She was the director of the Department of Youth and Community Development for Mayor Bloomberg and for the last eight years she was the Director of the Office of Diversity for the New York City Attorney.
From this position, to which he was appointed on April 25, Garcia supervises more than 60 employees of all ranks in the New York Police Department.
Among its goals is to increase opportunity for women who represent 35 percent of the force. Also, she wants the LGBTQ community to feel more represented.
“When you represent the most vulnerable voices, you represent the whole world,” Garcia said.
Above all, Garcia says he wants to maintain the focus of continuing to increase resources to increase the diversity of the city’s police force.
“That every decision made by the Police Department has (the) fairness as a priority.”
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