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Officer Fernando Flores

Setting a positive example and spreading awareness of not taking anything for granted is a small piece of a code Officer Flores lives by. He has been employed as a police officer with UC Merced since August 2018.

Officer Flores was born in the central valley and raised by his single parent mother who immigrated to the United States in her late teens. For the entirety of his childhood, his mother worked as a fieldworker, working long hours to support him and his two brothers. He is the oldest of three and his mother raised him with strong stern discipline that shaped him to the person he is today. Officer Flores’ mother taught him right and wrong, fear of consequences, and ensured he had strong morals and ethics to succeed in life and be an example for his brothers.

Because he was raised by a single parent mother, he looked up to his uncles as father figures. He saw how his cousins had the ability to spend quality time with their fathers and told himself how much he wanted that in life. Officer Flores grew up in low-income housing and always admired how other family members and friends lived.

A few friends of his growing up had parents who enlisted in the military. He grew respect for the idea of serving his country. Because he grew up in low income, he received government assistance. The assistance helped by putting a roof over his head and made sure he had plenty to eat. Officer Flores was grateful to this country and felt he had to do his part by giving back.

At the young age of 17 and with a signed waiver by his mother, Officer Flores signed the dotted line to join the United States Marine Corp. Officer Flores graduated from Merced High School and shortly after, he was standing face to face with a Drill Instructor. During the final 54-hour challenge of boot camp referred as the Crucible, he sustained an unknown injury to his left hip. In fear of being disqualified or held back, he didn’t report the injury to the drill instructors.

After withstanding a lot of pain and upon completion of the Crucible, he had the honor of receiving the Eagle Globe and Anchor and earned the title, Marine. Officer Flores immediately reported the injury and discovered the injury he sustained was a fracture to his hip. He earned a lot of respect for pushing and not giving up. Unbeknownst to him, Marine recruiters were using his story for some time to motivate people into enlisting.

After serving his term with the military and receiving an honorable discharge, he returned home to help his mother. Officer Flores caught an interest with law enforcement and decided to put himself through the Police Academy. When he wasn’t putting time at the academy, he was working to make ends meet. During the academy he applied to one agency and fortunately in 2007, he was hired by the Merced Police Department.

He achieved the title of Police Officer. It meant the world to him. Officer Flores had such pride to make his family proud, setting the example for his brothers and achieving something he worked so hard for. During his career, he carried that pride and demonstrated it by caring for his community. From the heart, he would go above and beyond in providing service to the community and never looked for any recognition. A little more care and attention to detail was demonstrated to his community.  Every call for service and interaction was important.

At UC Merced Police,  Officer Flores has earned the title of being a Field Training Officer, Violent intruder response training instructor, Basic life support instructor, Taser instructor, WRAP instructor and achieved the 2019 Officer of the Year award.

Officer Flores is proud to say he is able to provide for his wife and children to give them the love, warmth, shelter, and be that positive role model for his children. Work ethic and morals are in his everyday life. This includes serving the UC Merced community.