On a late Tuesday afternoon on 2nd Street, Thank Blue, this past July’s event to recognize Harrisburg’s police, was coming to an end. The music and radio DJs rumbled in the distance from where I sat in Café Fresco, waiting for Harrisburg Bureau of Police Capt. Gabriel Olivera.
As he arrived, he stopped for brief, friendly chats with staff at the restaurant. Looking polished in a stylish and modern suit, you’d never know he was a police officer if you passed him on the street.
Olivera came to Harrisburg from Brooklyn in the early ‘90s to provide his three then-young children with an upbringing free of the violence and crime in his lifelong home in New York. His neighborhood was the birthplace of the crack epidemic on the East Coast and saw 300 homicides per year, Olivera said.
“I got to see a lot of violence growing up, either personally or indirectly,” he said. “You learned how to survive.”
When his daughter, in second grade at the time, came home one day and told him one of her classmates’ brothers was killed as though it was no big deal—she’d told him of similar incidents in the past—he knew it was the final straw.
Olivera’s mother had moved to central PA earlier, settling in Selinsgrove, and, although he wanted to be closer to her, he still wanted to be in a city, albeit one very different from the Big Apple.
“To this day, I am still amazed at what’s not available on weekend or late nights or holidays,” Olivera said, traces of a New York accent still in his voice.
Olivera was a plumber in New York, so he applied for similar jobs in this area. He received a letter about taking the police entrance exam but didn’t think anything of it until the incident with his daughter’s classmate.
“I decided that I wanted to do something to make [things] safe for my kids,” Olivera said.
In 1994, he began on the force where all officers do—uniform patrol. For about seven years, he patrolled the streets during the night shift and spent time with his kids during the day when they weren’t in school.
“It was kind of funny because my kids weren’t sure what I did,” he said. “They knew I was a police officer, but I was always home. They would go to sleep at nine in the evening, and I would leave at 10 o’clock at night, and when they got home, I would be there.”
Olivera moved around the force after leaving patrol, first to auto theft investigations. Next, he worked as a school resource officer, where, after four years, he was promoted to corporal to supervise that unit.
Coming full circle, he went back to supervise both the uniform patrol and auto theft units. He moved around to supervise other units and helped start the county gang task force in the early 2000s. Surpassing his career goal of becoming a lieutenant, he was named acting captain in September 2015 and promoted to full rank in January.
Olivera has also been a Dauphin County crisis negotiator since 2004, crediting his brains-over-brawn upbringing and bilingualism (he’s Latino and speaks Spanish) for his success in that position in talking to individuals and getting them to safely surrender.
Over the course of his career, Olivera has evolved with Harrisburg, prioritizing his community-focused approach to try to make it a better place, acknowledging gentrification in some neighborhoods and decline in others.
“You have all the issues—and dynamics of a large urban city but in a big town setting,” Olivera said. “There’s enough happening here that you become a very experienced officer very quickly.”
In light of last month’s police-involved shooting of Earl Pinckney in Harrisburg and other racially charged tensions with police nationally, Olivera emphasized the importance of being involved in the community to address these issues. He also pointed out that the media sometimes presents a generalized picture of police.
“The reality is that our officers have a really good relationship with the community,” he said.
Dealing with fewer personnel—down to 128 people from 186 when he started—and loss of resources, Olivera works closely with his colleagues and friends Chief Thomas Carter and Capt. Deric Moody to continually improve the force.
Keeping his staff informed and motivated is key, especially during times of heightened stress and particularly demanding work. Olivera still goes out on search warrants and gets in uniform from time to time to maintain perspective for what his staff is going through.
Plus, as the first Latino captain in the department, his role as community liaison is more important than ever.
“I think a lot of times the Hispanic community feels that they don’t have a voice,” Olivera said.
He recalled the lasting connections he made with community members when working on Allison Hill and how humbled he felt at the Latino presence during his swearing in as captain.
The presence of community dialogue has been vital in recent weeks for Olivera as the bureau has handled the investigation of Pinckney’s death.
“I think, unlike many other places where they’ve had violence, I think we’ve created room for dialogue,” he said. “I think everyone’s on the same page where we want to see if we can address things. We want to improve things.”
Author: Rebecca Oken
