Intel Analyst Embraces New Career

Image of Rhonda Taylor

#HispanicHeritageMonth

Growing up in North Long Beach, Calif., Rhonda Taylor was grateful for police.

The emergence of certain groups ushered in a feeling of danger, but the interactions she witnessed with law enforcement left a lasting impression. They helped inspire her to join KCPD.

“If I could help someone the way they helped me, I would want to be that,” Taylor explained. “I still help people, but not on the front lines. I’m behind the scenes.”

Today, Taylor is an intelligence analyst in KCPD’s Special Investigation Division (SID), having joined it after 20 years as a call taker, dispatcher, and supervisor.

I jokingly say ‘I’m Detective 2.0,’ because I look through reports to help them,” said Taylor. “We look at video and open-source things. The detectives are on the front lines, and I’m offering them real-time intelligence.”

Taylor was well prepared to transition from the Communications Unit to SID. Both required the ability to correlate things, plus Taylor’s knowledge of Kansas City geography, learned from experience, helped her adapt quickly to her new role.

The rewards have been satisfying.

“I get to know that the suspect has been taken into custody, and that I have a hand in that,” Taylor said. “They’re (detectives) boots on the ground looking. I’m behind the scenes giving them live intelligence as to where this person might be found.”

While Taylor, born Flores, was changing career paths, personally, she was moving in a new, but long-sought direction. A daughter of divorced parents, she was reconnecting with her father, who lived out of state most of her life.

Of Mexican and Spanish descent, her father introduced her to a family and lineage in San Antonio she hadn’t known.

“Since I didn’t know much about the Latino side of my family, I shied away from it, Taylor said. “Being able to meet more family and spend more time with my dad, this was missing. I felt more complete.”

Today, Taylor continues to explore her heritage, and hopes to learn more about her lineage from Spain.

“I would love to go to Spain one day!”