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CHRIS SUK
LAPD Officer & Iraqi Veteran
Originally from Los Angeles, Officer Suk has 13 years on the job. His experiences include patrol in Van Nuys and Olympic Divisions, Collision Investigation in South Bureau, Narcotics Investigation, Community Relations, Use of Force Review, and is currently on the patrol rifle cadre. He is a US Army veteran and was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003 to 2005. He developed a love for serving and helping people at a young age while working at the Koreatown Youth and Community Center.
We know that growing up Korean-American, a lot of the younger generation can feel kind of torn between two identities. Did you feel that rift when you were growing up?
Maybe. I think I was very aware that legally I’m an American, but you can’t ignore your heritage. Part of it is just because of aesthetics, right? You have that “Oriental” look so you’re asked questions like where you’re from, and sometimes you wonder why it even bothers you when you’re asked that. And I imagine it’s because they’re pointing out that you look different. I came of age in the ‘90s so there wasn’t any kind of overt racism, but I was aware of my Korean descent since my parents were first generation immigrants. I don’t know if torn was the right word -- I came to the realization that being an American is not about your DNA or ethnic heritage. It’s your allegiance and your ideals. And now I don’t really question any of that. I’m very proud of my Korean heritage, but I’m just as American as the next guy with blonde hair and blue eyes. In fact, I’m an Iraqi veteran. I’ve probably contributed more to this country than your average white guy that was born and raised here.
What was it like, serving in the war?
I wasn’t a front line soldier, so I was never engaged in actual fire, and my experience may be a little different. But for me, when I saw Iraqi children, I couldn’t help but to think about Korea’s history. Some decades ago, there was this struggling third-world country in Southeast Asia, and had American troops and Allied forces not been deployed, I would have come from a country that probably otherwise would not exist today. And for me to be part of the armed forces of a nation that did that, I felt a sense of pride and gratitude. And I’m trying to pay it forward by making a difference for some of those Iraqi children.
While you were serving, did you ever feel like you were treated differently because of your race?
Contrary to what people think, no. I know that the average person’s perspective is going to be shaped by what they see in the movies and media about a very unique organization like the military, but I would have to say that the place with the least amount of racism would be the United States Military. Literally, my fellow veterans and I talk about this all the time; the military was one of the very few places where everyone is green. You’re either a little light green or dark green, but everybody is green. And people are treated fairly and equally, and I think I really relished and took pride in that and never once, regardless of the skin color of my supervisors, did it hinder me from following their lead. Obviously the things that do make the news are isolated incidents of overt racism or of female soldiers getting sexually assaulted, but it’s not like the rate of those things happening is higher in the military than it would be in the real world.
Did your experience in the army influence your decision to go into law enforcement?
No, I think I wanted to become a cop since high school. I figured I’d grow out of it, but here I am now. Honestly, I can’t explain what would drive a person to run toward danger -- do I have some kind of hero complex or something? All I know is I love this almost romantic idea of being a sheepdog to protect the sheep from the wolves. I know it sounds a little corny, but we’re just cut from that cloth -- we can’t help it. There’s no particular incident in my childhood or any moment where something clicked, it was just built in me.
So currently you’re a recruiter. Before that, you worked with narcotics, no?
I’ve got close to 14 years on the job now. One of the great things about the LAPD is that since it’s such a large organization, there’s an opportunity to move around a lot. I did do some undercover narcotics work, but I was also a patrol officer in addition to doing community relations, collision investigation, etc.
Was working in undercover narcotics anything like the movies?
I think the movies at times exaggerate some stuff -- which they have to -- and I get it. I have a lot of interest in that field, and I know they have to dramatize it. But it’s not as intense as some movies make it out to be. There are certainly intense moments and exciting times.
I imagine that this is quite a dangerous job. Were your parents okay with it?
I think for Asian American parents, two things concern them the most when their kids tell them they want to be a cop. One is that in Korea, being a policeman may not be the most prestigious job. The other is obviously safety. But I think my parents have been in America long enough to understand that here it’s a rather respectable career. Safety wise, they never brought it up. I’m sure they just thought, ‘Well if this kid survived Iraq, I’m sure he can survive LA.’
Maybe. I think I was very aware that legally I’m an American, but you can’t ignore your heritage. Part of it is just because of aesthetics, right? You have that “Oriental” look so you’re asked questions like where you’re from, and sometimes you wonder why it even bothers you when you’re asked that. And I imagine it’s because they’re pointing out that you look different. I came of age in the ‘90s so there wasn’t any kind of overt racism, but I was aware of my Korean descent since my parents were first generation immigrants. I don’t know if torn was the right word -- I came to the realization that being an American is not about your DNA or ethnic heritage. It’s your allegiance and your ideals. And now I don’t really question any of that. I’m very proud of my Korean heritage, but I’m just as American as the next guy with blonde hair and blue eyes. In fact, I’m an Iraqi veteran. I’ve probably contributed more to this country than your average white guy that was born and raised here.
What was it like, serving in the war?
I wasn’t a front line soldier, so I was never engaged in actual fire, and my experience may be a little different. But for me, when I saw Iraqi children, I couldn’t help but to think about Korea’s history. Some decades ago, there was this struggling third-world country in Southeast Asia, and had American troops and Allied forces not been deployed, I would have come from a country that probably otherwise would not exist today. And for me to be part of the armed forces of a nation that did that, I felt a sense of pride and gratitude. And I’m trying to pay it forward by making a difference for some of those Iraqi children.
While you were serving, did you ever feel like you were treated differently because of your race?
Contrary to what people think, no. I know that the average person’s perspective is going to be shaped by what they see in the movies and media about a very unique organization like the military, but I would have to say that the place with the least amount of racism would be the United States Military. Literally, my fellow veterans and I talk about this all the time; the military was one of the very few places where everyone is green. You’re either a little light green or dark green, but everybody is green. And people are treated fairly and equally, and I think I really relished and took pride in that and never once, regardless of the skin color of my supervisors, did it hinder me from following their lead. Obviously the things that do make the news are isolated incidents of overt racism or of female soldiers getting sexually assaulted, but it’s not like the rate of those things happening is higher in the military than it would be in the real world.
Did your experience in the army influence your decision to go into law enforcement?
No, I think I wanted to become a cop since high school. I figured I’d grow out of it, but here I am now. Honestly, I can’t explain what would drive a person to run toward danger -- do I have some kind of hero complex or something? All I know is I love this almost romantic idea of being a sheepdog to protect the sheep from the wolves. I know it sounds a little corny, but we’re just cut from that cloth -- we can’t help it. There’s no particular incident in my childhood or any moment where something clicked, it was just built in me.
So currently you’re a recruiter. Before that, you worked with narcotics, no?
I’ve got close to 14 years on the job now. One of the great things about the LAPD is that since it’s such a large organization, there’s an opportunity to move around a lot. I did do some undercover narcotics work, but I was also a patrol officer in addition to doing community relations, collision investigation, etc.
Was working in undercover narcotics anything like the movies?
I think the movies at times exaggerate some stuff -- which they have to -- and I get it. I have a lot of interest in that field, and I know they have to dramatize it. But it’s not as intense as some movies make it out to be. There are certainly intense moments and exciting times.
I imagine that this is quite a dangerous job. Were your parents okay with it?
I think for Asian American parents, two things concern them the most when their kids tell them they want to be a cop. One is that in Korea, being a policeman may not be the most prestigious job. The other is obviously safety. But I think my parents have been in America long enough to understand that here it’s a rather respectable career. Safety wise, they never brought it up. I’m sure they just thought, ‘Well if this kid survived Iraq, I’m sure he can survive LA.’
"Because as a Korean, I can’t imagine calling 911 on my dad, no matter what he’s done, versus other cultures where maybe it’s more acceptable. "
Korean culture as a whole isn’t very open to discussions about mental health. Both as a police officer and after your time in Iraq, you must have had a lot of incidents with either you or your comrades dealing with mental health issues. What do you have to say about that, especially regarding Koreans?
My assumption is that Asian households don’t want to talk about mental health issues. Maybe I’m just very Westernized now, but I would have no problem seeing a therapist. As far as what we do on the job, we have full time therapists, psychologists, and doctors working for the LAPD. Sometimes officers are even mandated to go see behavioral scientists, especially after witnessing a critical incident. As for the community, I’m sure you guys see it too, but a lot of our homeless population suffers from it -- it’s not just being homeless, a lot of them do suffer from mental illness. Legally, you can’t force someone to seek help, but I don’t know if services need to be more readily available, or as a society we ought to have certain ways to encourage them to seek mental health? I don’t know what the answer is.
On the LAPD website, we saw that you said you’re interested in film. Do you think that if you weren’t in the police force, you would have gravitated toward the film industry?
Yeah, I think I would have pursued a career in that field. I would love to have gone more on the production side more than the art side. I realized that I have a talent in coordinating things; maybe I could have been a pretty decent producer.
Is that something you would want to pursue in the future?
Not as a career. You know what would be a dream come true, though? If I was a technical advisor in a cop show or something and then eventually made my way into the producer credits.
This is kind of a touchy subject, but police brutality has been in the headlines a lot recently. Have you noticed racial profiling on the job?
I can only speak on behalf of LAPD -- I certainly can’t speak for things that go on in other parts of the state or the country. I can see how certain individuals can perceive certain things. Obviously there are different ethnic demographics among different geographical areas. But the deployment and concentration of police officers per square footage are dependent on statistics and data from past years, such as how much crime or radio traffic an area has. It has nothing to do with feelings or emotions or politics. But I could see why people are thinking, ‘oh, there are more police cars in a black neighborhood.’
Do you think Asians may be less likely to report crimes?
That’s obviously hard to gauge, because how do you gauge something that isn’t measured? Culturally speaking, maybe. Because as a Korean, I can’t imagine calling 911 on my dad, no matter what he’s done, versus other cultures where maybe it’s more acceptable. But then again, how do you measure the absence of something?
As a recruiting officer, do you actively seek out or encourage Asian Americans to join the police force?
Absolutely. About 7% of our police force is API, and in the city of Los Angeles there’s obviously a lot more. I want to say around 13.5% or something like that? So there’s a little bit of a disparity there. It is our chief’s goal to hire more Asian Americans -- I think the goal is like 45 this fiscal year, and he wants to hire more African American and female officers. So those three demographics are the ones that the division is very strategically focusing on.
You seem very happy and content in your job. For our final question, what’s your definition of success, and have you reached it yet?
My answer is rather religious. For me, the best place to be is within the will of God, being where He wants me to be. That’s my definition of success. I was going to say something like, “to be happy,” but as I tell my friends and family, happiness isn’t something you pursue. You pursue holiness, and happiness will follow. But if you are in a place where you are honorable, righteous, and you’re doing what you were called to do, then I feel like that’s success.
My assumption is that Asian households don’t want to talk about mental health issues. Maybe I’m just very Westernized now, but I would have no problem seeing a therapist. As far as what we do on the job, we have full time therapists, psychologists, and doctors working for the LAPD. Sometimes officers are even mandated to go see behavioral scientists, especially after witnessing a critical incident. As for the community, I’m sure you guys see it too, but a lot of our homeless population suffers from it -- it’s not just being homeless, a lot of them do suffer from mental illness. Legally, you can’t force someone to seek help, but I don’t know if services need to be more readily available, or as a society we ought to have certain ways to encourage them to seek mental health? I don’t know what the answer is.
On the LAPD website, we saw that you said you’re interested in film. Do you think that if you weren’t in the police force, you would have gravitated toward the film industry?
Yeah, I think I would have pursued a career in that field. I would love to have gone more on the production side more than the art side. I realized that I have a talent in coordinating things; maybe I could have been a pretty decent producer.
Is that something you would want to pursue in the future?
Not as a career. You know what would be a dream come true, though? If I was a technical advisor in a cop show or something and then eventually made my way into the producer credits.
This is kind of a touchy subject, but police brutality has been in the headlines a lot recently. Have you noticed racial profiling on the job?
I can only speak on behalf of LAPD -- I certainly can’t speak for things that go on in other parts of the state or the country. I can see how certain individuals can perceive certain things. Obviously there are different ethnic demographics among different geographical areas. But the deployment and concentration of police officers per square footage are dependent on statistics and data from past years, such as how much crime or radio traffic an area has. It has nothing to do with feelings or emotions or politics. But I could see why people are thinking, ‘oh, there are more police cars in a black neighborhood.’
Do you think Asians may be less likely to report crimes?
That’s obviously hard to gauge, because how do you gauge something that isn’t measured? Culturally speaking, maybe. Because as a Korean, I can’t imagine calling 911 on my dad, no matter what he’s done, versus other cultures where maybe it’s more acceptable. But then again, how do you measure the absence of something?
As a recruiting officer, do you actively seek out or encourage Asian Americans to join the police force?
Absolutely. About 7% of our police force is API, and in the city of Los Angeles there’s obviously a lot more. I want to say around 13.5% or something like that? So there’s a little bit of a disparity there. It is our chief’s goal to hire more Asian Americans -- I think the goal is like 45 this fiscal year, and he wants to hire more African American and female officers. So those three demographics are the ones that the division is very strategically focusing on.
You seem very happy and content in your job. For our final question, what’s your definition of success, and have you reached it yet?
My answer is rather religious. For me, the best place to be is within the will of God, being where He wants me to be. That’s my definition of success. I was going to say something like, “to be happy,” but as I tell my friends and family, happiness isn’t something you pursue. You pursue holiness, and happiness will follow. But if you are in a place where you are honorable, righteous, and you’re doing what you were called to do, then I feel like that’s success.