By Fields VP Dwight Thompson
It is with a heavy heart that we must report the senseless murder of one of our AFSCME brothers, probation/parole agent, Davis Martinez. Agent Martinez served in the City of Chevy Chase, Maryland and was killed while conducting a home visit with client Emanuel Edward Sewell on May 31, 2024. After being in prison for 20 years, Sewell was released in 2021.
Details of this senseless crime are still pending but it appears that while conducting a compliance check on a released sex offender, Mr. Martinez was faced with a confrontation that ended with his untimely death. Agent Martinez died due to multiple injuries, including blunt-force trauma. Sewell was captured in West Virginia and is pending extradition to Maryland to face second degree murder charges.
Agent Martinez died in the line of duty doing what he loved to do. We in Los Angeles County mourn his death and we pray for his family. We must be mindful of how we conduct compliance checks on offenders in the community. There are a lot of safety precautions that we must take as we enter the community and a lot of unknown factors we encounter could lead to us being injured.
Our union has consistently confronted management concerning the lack of safety equipment for field visits. We must ensure that each probation officer has the proper equipment to conduct field operations, including the proper vest, pepper spray, radios and a partner to ensure that we are paired up while in the field.
To date, management has not provided any type of broadcast system for us while we’re out on calls. We need to have better communication with a dispatch center while out in the community. Agent Martinez was missing for a day and a welfare check was done at the last known location. We can’t say what circumstances would have made this any better, but having to conduct a check to find an agent the next day is unacceptable.
LA County probation officers are responsible for community compliance checks on those individuals who are free of incarceration while serving a stayed sentence. This does not mean the probationer intends to maintain compliance. We should be mindful of our surroundings when we are in the community and take all precautions when conducting field checks.
Local 685 will continue to make sure our members have the safety equipment required to be in the community and be safe. We will work to have a Dispatch Center; we will work to ensure all ballistic vests are current and not expired. We will continue to meet with the management team to ensure all field training is completed and our members' safety is the primary concern.
Let us stand together with Maryland parole/probation. Let us pray for agent Martinez family and law enforcement community that services that great state.
In the News:
Maryland Probation/Parole Union Demand Termination of Department Leadership following the Murder of a Probation/Parole Officer
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