Celina Juarez
Celina Juarez is a coati and a rookie officer at Precinct 7, training under John Nolan. She is notable for her intuitive perception and unguarded hero-worship of Judy Hopps.
Background
Celina Juarez is Nolan's rookie at Precinct 7, continuing the tradition of Nolan mentoring younger officers. As a coati — a raccoon-like mammal with a long snout and ringed tail — she brings expressive, observant energy to her work. Her intuitive perception allows her to notice things others miss.
Personality
Juarez is expressive, enthusiastic, and perceptive. Her eyes notice things others miss, cataloging her environment constantly. She approaches her work with the eager energy of a rookie who genuinely believes in what she's doing, and her hero-worship of established officers like Judy is naked and unguarded.
Unlike more cynical officers, Juarez has not yet learned to hide her admiration or enthusiasm. This openness is both endearing and useful — her genuine curiosity leads her to ask questions and notice details.
Series Appearances
Season 3
Juarez is introduced at Precinct 1 during an inter-precinct exchange day in "Fur Your Eyes Only", standing at the coffee station with her training officer John Nolan and cataloging the room around her while he talks. Bogo assigns the pair of them to ride with Judy Hopps, and Juarez introduces herself by telling Judy she is "kind of a legend." Judy denies it, Nick contradicts the denial on his way out the door, and Juarez reads the whole exchange closely enough to ask outright whether the two of them have worked together before. The answer she gets is the Lynxley case, and not much else.
In the cruiser through the Canal District she keeps working at Judy's reputation — the rhinoceros she supposedly took down alone, the skyscraper she supposedly climbed during the Night Howler case — and takes each deflection without believing a word of it. On a stop for a flagged sedan she is held back at the cruiser while the other two work it, close enough to study how it is done, and it is her curiosity that ends up mattering: with the driver already cuffed, she leans into the car, finds a bag of personal effects, and asks what she should do with it. Judy tells her to log everything. The bag goes to evidence, where Smitty opens it and finds photographs of a prison inside.
Juarez is in the hallway with the others after the courier is killed inside a sealed interrogation room, supplying the detail that pins them where they stand: Bogo is at City Hall and will not be back for hours.
Season 5
During the Icener crisis, Juarez is assigned to Charlie team in "Cost of Entry" alongside Nolan, Grey, and four additional Precinct 7 officers. They assault the Canal District infrastructure depot, where they encounter entrenched resistance. Juarez is the first to spot movement in the northeast corner, alerting Nolan to the hostile contacts. When the flanking maneuver forces the firefight to its conclusion, Juarez drops the wolverine operative with two controlled shots center mass, securing the position. Her growth from curious rookie to capable tactical officer is evident in her composure under fire.
Juarez also serves on the West team during the final assault on The Root in "Final Position", contributing to the multi-agency operation that ends the Icener crisis.
Key Relationships
John Nolan
Nolan is Juarez's training officer at Precinct 7. Their dynamic reflects Nolan's mentoring approach — patient, supportive, and grounded in the philosophy that every mammal can choose to be better.
Judy Hopps
Juarez's hero-worship of Judy is immediate and sincere, and she says so out loud within a sentence of meeting her. The cases she has heard about — the rhinoceros, the skyscraper, the Night Howler investigation — are the ones Judy is least willing to take credit for, which does nothing to slow Juarez down.
Trivia
- Juarez is a coati, a raccoon-like mammal native to Central and South America.
- She is part of The Rookie crossover cast, alongside John Nolan, Tim Bradford, and Lucy Chen.