COMMANDER RICK AGUILAR

NORTHERN PATROL BRANCH

SERVING SINCE 1998

For Commander Rick Aguilar, law enforcement and the military are the family business.

His father, Tony Aguilar, joined SDPD after serving in the Marine Corps for 30 years.

“He was one of the oldest officers to go through (the police academy),” Aguilar said. “So I had an opportunity to see law enforcement first-hand.”

With the younger Aguilar joining the department in 1997 after following his father’s example by also joining the Marines (he served four years shortly after high school), the father and son overlapped with their SDPD service for about 15 years.

Between the military and police department he has many relatives who have served their country or San Diego.

Aguilar said his father-in-law, younger sister and brother-in-law are SDPD officers. His older sister retired from the Navy, an uncle served 30 years in the Air Force, his godfather served 20 years as a Marine and another uncle served 30 years in the Marine Corps.

With his father in the military, Aguilar said his early years were spent at several Marine Corps bases, including Camp Pendleton when he was very young. They returned to California when he was a teen and his father was the sergeant major at MCRD San Diego.

During his stint in the Marines, the younger Aguilar deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and served in combat.

Being a police officer is something Aguilar said he wanted to do since he was young.

“I knew I wanted to do law enforcement as a career because I wanted to help people,” he said.