Heroes Agency Instructor Spotlight
Sergeant Anna Martinez – King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention
Anna Martinez started her early career in the medical field and moved to corrections in 2016, with King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention. Having worked in every area of the jail (Booking and Release, Central, Weapons, FTO, Acting Sergeant), in 2022 she had the fantastic opportunity to become a TAC Officer at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center (WACJTC). There, she met great people, became both a firearms and certified Heroes Instructor, and improved her general instructional skill, while gaining valuable insight into leadership. She was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in September 2023. Sad that her special assignment at CJTC was coming to an end, she returned as a contracted instructor, teaching BLEA firearms and in the Corrections Academy.
Anna says, “As I know from my own experience, sometimes it is extremely hard to act or find the courage to question standards or practices in your agency and keep your coworkers out of trouble. I love that Heroes teaches us skills for how to do that. My favorite quote from the class is ‘Early is best, but Better Late Than Never.’” She goes on to say, “Recognizing that there are so many difficult situations corrections officers face every day, and that there is so much negativity in the culture, is crucial to understanding how easy it is to make mistakes, commit misconduct, or endanger your health and wellbeing by not doing proper self-care. I believe that if we can work as a team to help each other in a way that doesn’t undermine fellow officers, and by focusing on how much we care about their wellbeing, we can improve agency culture one intervention at a time.”
Some of you may recognize Anna from her Heroes class video – she is the one that gets hoots and hollers as she slams a cell door shut to prevent a colleague’s potential misconduct. We are incredibly grateful to have Anna on the Heroes instructional team. She brings great general skill and a wonderful heart to the class. She personifies the Heroes values every day!