SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — When asked which sibling is the better deputy, Jerry and Brittany Earr both laughed.
“It was always a competition, even in academy,” Jerry said.
The siblings are close, both working in the fitness industry together before deciding on a new career a few years ago.
“COVID kind of made us rethink our futures a little bit, so during that time, [we said] let’s buckle down and start a career in law enforcement,” Jerry added.
“We did go to the academy together and that was an amazing experience, probably one of the most memorable experiences I’ll have in my life to say that I did that with him,” Brittany added.
The brother and sister duo look back to their parents and grandparents when it comes to doing something hard. Their family fled Cambodia in the 1970s.
“The genocide was the Cambodian genocide,” Jerry said, referring to the atrocities led by Pol Pot. “There [were] about 3 million people that were killed, and they were lucky enough to escape that. Through the Red Cross they were brought here to the United States and placed here in San Diego, so we’re very fortunate for that,” Jerry said.
He said growing up, his parents and grandparents didn’t talk openly about that time in their lives, but they opened up more recently.
“Now that they’ve gotten older, a lot of it came from my grandma … her talking about you know how she escaped,” Jerry said.
It’s that foundation that has guided the siblings and their brother, who is in a different career.
Their parents started a new life in America becoming small business owners. They remember days and nights in the donut shops that their dad helped build and grow.
“All the things that they went through — the war, the hard work they had to put into raise us — they came with nothing on their backs here in the United States,” Jerry said.
Brittany also remembered her older brother guiding her growing up.
“He was the one that taught me the ABCs, taught me English,” Brittany said. “My parents didn’t know that, right? Their first language was Cambodian, Khmer, and so he guided me through that.”
She got emotional thinking about her tight-knit relationship with her older sibling and the respect she has for him, thankful that they are going through the law enforcement journey together.
“We’re seeing each other at our very lowest moments but then also at our very highest, and that was something so precious to me that I could do that and also make him proud,” said Brittany, holding back tears.
As they serve the county together, they remember not to assume you know someone’s story.
“You never know where they’re coming from, and I treat everybody with respect,” Brittany said. “My grandma when she first arrived here, she didn’t know English. She couldn’t get a job … so she would pick cans from the park, and that would be a little extra money to help feed the family.”
In their native Cambodian language, the two thanked their parents and grandmother for giving them the opportunity to be raised in America.