Street Smarts: Sixto Molina Lane honors police/community leader

Sixto O. Molina Jr.’s prominent career in Tucson-area law enforcement began while he was a student at C.E. Rose Elementary School.

He became a member of the Junior Safety Patrol there and hoped to help create a safe and secure environment for others.

Molina had been born to Sixto Sr. and Alice Molina in 1951 in Safford. The family eventually relocated to San Manuel, where his dad worked as a truck driver for the Magma Copper Mine and at times for the Teamsters Union. His father shared stories of serving in World War II under Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific Theater with his young son, inspiring his interest in community service.

The family moved to Tucson in 1959, although his father continued to make the drive to San Manuel five days a week.

From Rose Elementary, Molina went on to Wakefield Junior High and then, in 1965, to Pueblo High School.

At Pueblo Molina joined the DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) program, through which he worked at Saccani’s Department Store in Southgate Shopping Center on South Sixth Avenue for educational credit and pay.

The DECA program became even more valuable when the miners went on strike at the San Manuel mine, his father lost his income, and Molina had to help his family.

“One of the other things that really helped us get through this tough financial time was Joe Y. Wey, the owner of Joe’s Super Market, a Chinese grocer on the southwest corner of 12th Avenue and Irvington Road, letting us buy food on IOU,” Molina shared. “Joe would ring up our order and if we didn’t have enough money to pay, we would sign the back of the receipt and it would be placed in the cash register. When we had some money we would come in and pay it off.” He did this for many families to help them, he said.

In March 1972, after graduating from Pueblo and continuing to work at Saccani’s, Molina got hired by the South Tucson Police Department as the police and fire dispatcher and jailer. He typed up the booking sheet for the prisoners incarcerated in one of the two cells.

He was hired by the Tucson Police Department in August 1972 and attended its academy at 3100 N. Silverbell Road.

After graduation he was assigned to a rookie field training squad and worked on all sides of town: Adam Sector (north side, downtown and west side), Baker Sector (midtown), Charlie Sector (east side) and David Sector (south side). The names of the sectors today are referred to as operations divisions; for example Charlie Sector is now Operations Division East.

In 1973, after completing the probation period, he was assigned to Adam Sector. The following year he became one of the original members of the Adam-1 Team, comprised of 13 bilingual officers and one sergeant.

The team was created because the relationship between police and west-side residents was strained. Residents had been complaining that when they called for help it took too long for officers to show up, he recalls, and this was during a period when heroine deaths, particularly among youths, was a serious issue.

The team’s work resulted in improved response times to emergencies, which decreased crime rates and also helped community relations, Molina says.

In 1976, while assigned to the west-side Adam-1 Team, he was dispatched to investigate an apartment burglary. The 21-year-old daughter of the victim was also there when Molina arrived. During his investigation the daughter, a nurse, offered him a cup of coffee, then another and another. They seemed to connect very well and soon after went on their first date, to Spaghetti Factory. They wed in 1979 and have been married for 43 years.

Molina became a detective in 1979 and was assigned to assault detail, where he dealt with felony assault cases in which the victim was badly beaten or a knife or gun was used but the victim didn’t die.

While in this unit, he noticed a pattern of assaults that were indicative of big city street gangs, which weren’t really known in Tucson until this point.

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One case he investigated involved a group of young Chicanos in multiple vehicles that blocked a single vehicle. Several individuals jumped out of these cars and assaulted the driver and smashed the windows out. In other cases they carried out drive-by shootings.

There had been Chicano street gangs in Tucson in the 1960s like the Drifters, Bumpers and Los Chucos crews, but they had fought old school, using their fists and occasionally a knife, and people rarely died, Molina says.

As a result of Molina’s suspicion a type of more violent gang was emerging in Tucson, police Chief William J. Gilkinson formed the Street Gang Task Force in March 1980. It was comprised of Molina, Eugene M. “Gene” Gonzales, and James Coburn, who were tasked with determining if there was a street gang issue.

It became apparent to the task force members that the sudden rise in street gang numbers and in violence was due, at least in part, to the film Boulevards Nights that had come out the year before.

The Tucson Police Department Street Gang Unit was formed, which included Molina and Gonzales.

By October 1986, Molina was transferred to homicide detail, this time as a sergeant, with a team of four detectives under his watch. He and his team responded to all homicides, suicides and deaths that were suspicious in nature. They also handled missing persons’ cases, which numbered in the hundreds.

In 1994 he began a new assignment as supervisor of the Tucson Police Department school resource officer unit for the elementary and middle schools on the west side of town.

During the one school year he did this job he supervised eight officers assigned to the educational institutions. The officers sometimes had to deal with preliminary child abuse reports or reports of teachers molesting students. At times they received reports of students bringing weapons to school.

In 1997, at the suggestion of TPD Officer Joe Curran, Case Enterprises, a partner in the Civano project on South Houghton Road, asked Tucsonans to suggest names of locals who had done positive things for the community so they could be honored with a street name in the new housing development. Molina was nominated and soon after, Sixto Molina Lane street signs went up.

In 1997 he was hired as chief of police for the city of South Tucson. His main duty was crime control, with the principal issues he confronted at the onset being narcotics and prostitution.

He also dealt with a police car fleet on its last hubcaps, until the department was able to buy new vehicles in about 2002. The words “In Memory of Ofc. John Valenzuela” (namesake of the John A. Valenzuela Youth Center in South Tucson) were written on the side to honor Valenzuela, the only South Tucson Police officer killed in the line of duty. Today, the cars instead carry Valenzuela’s badge number, 225, on a decal.

By 2007 Molina had endured several years of budget cuts and had gone from 26 officer positions to about 18. He felt that was inadequate for safe streets.

In late 2007 he became school district security coordinator for Sunnyside Unified School District. He worked with other officials to develop a school security program, which included updating the school dress code and the student code of conduct. Both updates were related to gang issues and bullying.

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In 2017, South Tucson, under new leadership, offered him the city manager position, which he accepted. He had the responsibility of overseeing every city department as well as presenting a balanced budget to the mayor and council for approval. He essentially carried out the wishes of the mayor and council. After a year and a half he resigned when the council that hired him left office.

Today, Molina can be found volunteering as the campaign chairman for his choice for mayor, independent candidate Ed Ackerley.