Fermin was born and raised here in Oxnard, and attended McKinna Elementary, Haydock Jr High, and Hueneme High School. However, for 8th and 9th grade, he attended
Telesecundaria Valentin Gomez Farias in Jalisco, Mexico. He had to ride an hour to school (each way) on horseback, because the town where he lived did not have a junior high school. After graduating Hueneme High, he earned his B.A. in History from California State University, Northridge. He would also go on to earn a B.A. in Theology from Saint Paul Baptist Church Seminary and Bible Institute.
Since he was a child, he wanted to help his community through a career in law enforcement, but he was born with a disability in his hip, so he didn’t think that goal would be possible. He worked a number of other jobs, early-on. He was a roof loader for H&R Roofing, a shoe salesman at Royal Family Shoes, a box boy in a local market, a gardener/landscaper, LAUSD Teacher’s Assistant, substitute teacher in the Hueneme and Oxnard Elementary School Districts, and a Chaplain for ProCare Hospice. In 2006, he learned about the Oxnard P.D. position of Community Service Officer, and jumped at the opportunity.
As a C.S.O., he has worked and volunteered in a number of assignments, including: Patrol, Crime Scene Investigations, Peer Support, Animal Safety Unit, Parent Project Liaison, Police Activities League Soccer Coach, East District Neighborhood Policing Team, and Chaplain. His favorite assignments have been working closely with the Colonia community with the Neighborhood Policing Team and facilitating parenting classes. “To see parents who were hopeless in finding solutions to their adolescents' self-destructive behavior and help them implement new strategies to effectively have a positive influence in their children is priceless,” he says.
What is his favorite thing about working for Oxnard P.D.? Fermin says, “I love working with a wide range of people from different backgrounds and needs. Every day is different, every call is different and challenging. There is never a dull moment, from working a homicide crime scene as a C.S.I., to giving bereavement counseling to the surviving family as a Chaplain, to working with parents so their children do not become gang members, to doing a regular burglary or missing juvenile report: everything is exciting.”
His career as a Community Service Officer has inspired future life goals. In his own words, “I will like to eventually work full-time as a Pastor, using the experience and exposure I have had with O.P.D., seeing the worst of the worst. I’d like to help more people in the Spanish-speaking community overcome their inner demons to have better lives, marriages, families, children, and overall, a better community. To provide seminars and classes for parents, recovering alcoholics, recovering addicts, awareness and prevention seminars for young adults so they do not develop the same bad habits and behaviors as they saw in their parents.”
On his days off, he loves to spend time with his family (wife Lucila and their five children: Genesis (17), Mia (15), Fermin (10), Eli (😎, & Samuel (5)) and serve at the church where he is a Pastor: Centro Cristiano Familiar. He loves to teach music (keyboard, guitar, bass guitar, drums, trumpet) and coach/manage his children's soccer teams and Oxnard Shields Soccer Athletic Club. He also still loves riding horses, mountain biking, hiking, and trying out new foods and cuisines.