Expanding Our Roots: Dr. Jose Torres

Expanding Our Roots: Global Conversations With 821 is an online interview series hosted by The 821 Project. The purpose of the series is to showcase the cultural diversity, global connections and social consciousness of the people of southeast Louisiana as well as those who work to expand southeast Louisiana's roots to the world through works that promote social justice and global citizenship.

The series presents community organizers, community leaders and residents living in southeast Louisiana who come from different parts of the world or who work to promote global citizenship, multiculturalism and social justice in our regional community.

This interview is with Dr. Jose Torres. Jose is a sociology professor at Louisiana State University. Prior to becoming a professor, he was a police officer in his native Virginia from 2009 to 2012, working mostly in low income communities with the Norfolk Police Department's public housing community policing unit. His experiences in law enforcement have shaped his research and teaching in the areas of urban policing, community policing, policing and social control, police legitimacy, and race/ethnicity and policing. He has a PH.D in Sociology from Virginia Tech University, which he obtained in 2016.