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Last Updated: Jun 5th, 2007 - 16:04:39 |
By JESSICA PONN
Special to The Sun
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Officer Jesus Rivera stops by a house in the Phoenix community off of SW 23rd Street. (JESSICA PONN/Special to The Sun)
An unexpected phone call from the Gainesville Police Department put a smile on Wilfredo Melendez's face in December.
High-ranking officers told him they were concerned about communication problems between law enforcement and Gainesville Hispanics, and they wanted his help.
As president of the Chamber of Hispanic Affairs, a local outreach group, Melendez, an 18-year resident of Gainesville who was born in Puerto Rico, said he has seen his share of problems between law enforcement and Hispanics.
He said his message to the officers was clear: Hire more Hispanics and more who speak fluent Spanish.
"You have to have a force that reflects the community and that people can identify with," he said. "That's true not just for GPD, but for any government agency."
The problem for GPD is twofold, Melendez said. A cultural divide makes some Hispanics hesitant to trust police, and many of those who want to reach out to law enforcement feel they cannot do so because they do not speak English.
More than 7,000 Gainesville residents are Hispanic - almost 7 percent of the total population - according to a 2005 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Melendez said he believes that number has grown dramatically during the past year, with more Mexican immigrants coming to Gainesville than ever before.
He attributes that trend to immigration patterns nationwide. About 25 percent of Hispanics in Gainesville do not speak English, Melendez estimated.
GPD has 11 Hispanic officers - 3 percent of the department's work force, according to personnel data.
And according to estimates from several officers, no more than a handful of GPD officers speak fluent Spanish, though perhaps a dozen more know enough to communicate on a basic level.
In contrast with GPD, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office does not have problems communicating with Hispanics, spokesman Keith Faulk said.
"It really hasn't been an issue," Faulk said.
Even though the Sheriff's Office has roughly the same percentage of Hispanic employees as GPD, the agency always has at least a couple of Spanish-speaking deputies on each shift.
A work in progress
GPD Capt. Ed Book, one of the officers who organized the meeting with Melendez and other prominent Hispanics, said since December the agency has increased its efforts to recruit Hispanic and Spanish-speaking officers.
GPD's personnel division placed recruitment advertisements in three Hispanic newspapers, he said.
But even if GPD were to hire more Hispanics and Spanish-speakers immediately, the agency would not allow them to focus their attention on predominately Hispanic areas until they spent months learning the ins and outs of Gainesville on patrol, GPD spokesman Keith Kameg said.
In the short-term, the department assigned Jesus Rivera, a Spanish-speaking Hispanic officer, to spend time in the Phoenix Apartments complex off of SW 23rd Street, a neighborhood that is home to a significant Hispanic population.
The hope, Book said, was to boost confidence in law enforcement.
Even though he spoke Spanish, Rivera said he immediately noticed cultural and linguistic barriers.
"When I first started, everybody was in a shell," Rivera said. "I talked to them in Spanish and now they all wave. They said, â€òIt's about time they put one of you guys in here that understands us.' "
But Rivera said most residents still do not trust him and would rather be left alone.
He said he thinks it will take time to earn their trust because in many Hispanic countries, having confidence in law enforcement is laughable.
"Back where I come from, there is no respect," he said. "I wouldn't even be a cop in Puerto Rico. You couldn't pay me enough."
The same is true in Mexico, where most Hispanic residents in the Phoenix neighborhood are from, Melendez said.
Therefore, Rivera said, even when they are victims of crime, many Hispanics choose to keep the police in the dark.
Especially, he added, if they are in the U.S. illegally.
Book said GPD understands the prevalence of this mind-set, but the police are not the only ones.
Criminals are targeting Hispanics in the Phoenix complex because they think Hispanics do not report crime, Book said.
In a neighborhood that boasts of steel doors and deadbolt locks on its Web site, rejecting help from law enforcement can create a dangerous environment.
Book said GPD recently arrested a man for multiple thefts in the Phoenix complex.
The suspect admitted he chose the area because he felt illegal Mexican immigrants would not report the crimes, Book said.
Phoenix resident Barbara Arzuaga, 20, who is Puerto Rican, said people throw trash at her Mexican neighbors and initiate altercations with them because they believe the Mexicans will not involve the police.
The reality, Book said, is that GPD likely would not try to deport an illegal immigrant who called for police assistance.
"We respond to violations of the law, but we certainly don't have time to deal proactively with that kind of stuff," he said.
Problems do arise
In April, it was not the cultural but the language barrier that impeded GPD's ability to crack a case, when the agency was called to investigate a triple shooting at the Bambi Motel on SW 13th Street.
The victims and witnesses spoke only Spanish, while the officers who responded to the crime scene did not speak any, Book said.
"It hampered our ability to speak with witnesses and solve the crime," Book said.
Spanish-speaking GPD officers were called to the scene, but that didn't make the problem disappear.
"We're already behind at that point," Book said. "And the only people who are able to speak with the victims and witnesses are the Spanish-speaking officers. That slows us down."
Officers who do not speak Spanish can call Spanish-speaking officers to translate for them if they have trouble communicating, Book said.
Detective Joseph Mayo, a Spanish-speaking officer from Cuba, said he is called upon once or twice a week for that purpose. Rivera said he is frequently called as well, and has even been asked to translate Portuguese.
"As long as it ain't Chinese, I'm there," he said.
While Book recognizes the need to hire more Spanish-speaking officers at GPD, he said he does not believe that is the only solution. Officers should also be familiar with bilingual people in the neighborhoods they patrol, Book said, in case they cannot get in touch with a bilingual officer.
As a last resort, the department offers a "Survival Spanish" handout that tells officers how to pronounce key phrases in Spanish, such as "Do you have any ID?" "Calm down" and "Are you injured?"
"The reality is that it's not very effective when you're on call, but it's something that we have available," Book said of the guide.
Meanwhile, Melendez is trying to convince Hispanics that it is important for them to learn English. He teaches free English classes every Sunday.
The responsibility to break down communication barriers falls on both Hispanics and law enforcement, he said.
"Of course everybody needs to learn English, but Spanish is the second language for this country whether we like it or not," he said.
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