Patrolman Christopher Tinio Praises Oakland's Focus On Children And Family

After high school, at 17, Christopher Tinio joined the Marines and was stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

It was there he met and married his wife, also a Marine.

In 2009, Tinio was deployed to Afghanistan to take part in "Operation Enduring Freedom.”

When he returned to Camp Pendleton in May of 2010, he met his daughter who was born while he was in action.

After their discharge from the Marines in 2012, he and his family returned to N.J.  He became interested in law enforcement and worked with immigration authorities and in the prison system in South Jersey.

"I was the first in our family to enter law enforcement,” he says.

He ultimately completed training at the Bergen Police Academy, as did his wife, in 2014.

He graduated number 1; she graduated number 2. 

They were both hired shortly thereafter by the Bergen County police and worked in different assignments until the county police merged with the sheriff's department.

After a layoff of a few months, they each found positions.

Tinio was hired by the Oakland police; his wife by the Elmwood Park police.

For this married couple, who now have three children, managing dual careers in law enforcement is a challenge they embrace freely.

They manage home life and child-care schedules with strict efficiency. 

The same laser-like focus is applied to their physical fitness schedules. She goes to the gym at 5 a.m.; he goes to the gym at night, usually at 11 p.m.  She works four days on, four days off; he has a rotating day/night schedule. 

When he was a kid, Tinio saw police as strict authority figures.

And so Tinio makes a point of having Oakland’s children see police as people who are there to help them, and keep them and the community safe.

In Oakland, he has found a place that puts its children first.

"I love talking to the kids!" he says.

He is grateful that today a law enforcement family can manage their careers with help from their families and their respective forces.

"I am learning every day what it takes to do this job,” Tinio says. “Community policing is so rewarding. With Oakland's programs for kids like ‘Too Good For Drugs’ and the Oakland Junior Police Academy, our police are keeping Oakland's kids on a good path."

This story was written by correspondent Terri Casaleggio.