UPD's Cuaraque Is Responder Of The Week

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Melisha Cuaraque has always wanted to do something in the criminal justice field.

Born in Garden City, Cuaraque bounced between Garden City and Chicago, eventually ending up in Michigan, where she graduated high school. Then she moved back to Garden City with her mother “To pursue some kind of college.,” Cuaraque said.”

That college was Garden City Community College, where she did an internship at the Garden City Juvenile Detention Center.

“When I finished the internship, I applied there,” Cuaraque said. “I worked there for 8-1/2 years before becoming a police officer.”

She received her associate degree and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

She said it was tricky working with juveniles because “There’s a lot and not a lot we can do at the same time,” she added.

“I met a lot of different types of people from different backgrounds and different situations that I learned from,” Cuaraque said.

When she decided to become a police officer in early 2024, Cuaraque applied at the Garden City Police Department and the Ulysses Police Department because her partner is originally from Ulysses.

She was on her second interview with the Ulysses PD when Garden City called, so she told them she would pursue law enforcement in Ulysses and see how the process went.

“They hired me, I did some FTO training for about a month before doing the academy,” Cuaraque said. “I did the academy, finished October of last year and been on full time here.”

Cuaraque said the first three weeks of the 14-week academy was mostly classroom work regarding statutes, followed by physical training, firearms training, pursuit training, high-risk stops, and all different types of scenarios.

Cuaraque said she likes it in Ulysses because it’s slow paced, but fast paced at the same time.

“You see a lot of different things,” she said. “You get to interact with the community a lot more because you’re out more.”

If she’s on duty during lunch she can interact with the community, when she does walk-throughs at the school she can interact with the kids and she can interact with the community during sporting events.

“I feel like interacting with the community is a big thing,” she added. “Just having conversations with them and not having that ‘Community hates the police in town,’ we try to build that relationship so it can continue, and they can feel safe and call when needed and not be hesitant. I just feel like being open, especially in schools getting to know the kids.

“I feel like that’s a big thing I see in the community that I like to be involved with, because you want that relationship and you want to build that rapport, especially with the younger kids.

“I want to learn and grow inside this community and show Ulysses is a top police station and we can be there for whatever situation it is and the community knows they can trust us.”