Thread: Sheriff's Office needs more Latinos, candidates told

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.p ... 59&ntpid=4

Sheriff's Office needs more Latinos, candidates told
By Ben Broeren
The Dane County Sheriff's Office must work to better reflect the Latino community, said members of the audience at a Latino Support Network forum.


Two candidates for sheriff, Republican Mike Hanson and Democrat David Mahoney, took questions from some 100 people at the monthly "La Sup" meeting Wednesday.

Mahoney, a 26-year Dane County Sheriff's Office veteran, and Hanson, a five-year veteran of the Madison Police Department and its public spokesman, both said the overcrowding of jails and an inadequate Latino presence in the Sheriff's Office were important issues.

"I want a commitment that in 90 days after you get into office, one-third of the staff, including administrators, are people of color," said Juan Jose Lopez, a former Madison School Board member. "Otherwise, there's no reason to be here."

Hanson said overseeing such a change in 90 days would be difficult due to the length of the hiring process, but he could see it taking place within a year.

"I've seen the benefit of working in a diverse environment," Hanson said, noting that last year as a Dane County Board supervisor he worked to get $5,000 for minority recruitment.

Teresa Tellez-Giron, a Dane County social worker, said the Sheriff's Office should do more to connect with Latinos in the community.

"There is a gap .... Latinos are scared of the police," she said.

In addition to increased hiring of people of color, Hanson said police outreach programs such as Amigos en Azul (Friends in Blue), should be implemented at the county level. Amigos en Azul is a program of the Madison Police Department that relates law enforcement policies and services to recent immigrants and other Latinos.

Hanson added that there should be transparency and accountability in the Sheriff's Office, and added that operation manuals of the office and disciplinary actions toward officers are made public.

Both candidates spoke about how the crowding of jails and the number of inmate transfers to other counties was uprooting Latinos and from their cultural, community and religious support networks, in addition to costing the county over $2 million a year.

To reduce the number of inmates, Hanson said the county is looking for alternatives to jails for those with mental health and drug issues.

Mahoney said the county is planning on building a new work-release center for nonviolent offenders that would include a 300-bed treatment facility for alcohol and other drugs, a detox center, and education opportunities. The county has not yet decided on a location.

Peter Munoz, executive director of Centro Hispano, was concerned about whether a new facility would allow inmates to travel to their office conveniently. He said many Centro volunteers, particularly in the food pantry, are work-release prisoners.

The third candidate for sheriff, state Department of Justice administrator Robbie Lowery, was not at the forum Wednesday, but said in a telephone interview today that he did not receive an invitation to attend.

Asked how he would reach out to Latinos, he said he agreed that there are too few minorities on the force and that he would step up efforts to recruit them in part by talking to church and community leaders about who might make good candidates. Lowery, who is African-American, recalled how he was recruited when he was 16 by Beloit's police chief and became a cadet on the force a year later.

Lowery also said many minorities see the police as untrustworthy and that overcoming that perception should be an important goal of the Sheriff's Office.

"We have to let people know that we are not a heavy-handed department," he said.

Immigration: On the topic of undocumented immigration, Mahoney and Hanson said Wednesday that they would follow the procedure of notifying the Immigration and Naturalization Service when a felony is committed, but not make it a priority.

In cases where a misdemeanor has been committed, both said their policy was not to report it to the INS.

"It's not pragmatic to report every undocumented immigrant to the INS," Hanson said. "Though we have a duty to work with the INS and other departments."

E-mail: bbroeren@madison.com
Published: August 17, 2006

Darn, the pandering makes me want to puke.

MW, boy that's no joke.

Mahoney, a 26-year Dane County Sheriff's Office veteran, and Hanson, a five-year veteran of the Madison Police Department and its public spokesman, both said the overcrowding of jails and an inadequate Latino presence in the Sheriff's Office were important issues.

"I want a commitment that in 90 days after you get into office, one-third of the staff, including administrators, are people of color," said Juan Jose Lopez, a former Madison School Board member. "Otherwise, there's no reason to be here."

They actually said there's an inadequate latino presence in the Sheriff's Office? That's a blatenet racist statement if I've ever heard one.
And they have the audacity to call us racists.

I sure hope this madness ends soon. I'm going to be needing a ton of CT scans for all the headaches I have after this is all done!

This kills me since so many aren't here legally. Couldn't pass a criminal background check. Haven't much of an education. etc. And the demand their presence? Find some up-standing legal Latino citizens then. Are they going to be treated like the fine border patrol agents who were doing their jobs? I think they were more singled out because they were doing their job and not looking the other way for "their" people. Why aren't they out there defending the good Latino, legal citizens who took the challenge of working in law enforcement? Or are they wanting to re-create the crooked Mexican law enforcement and wanting "their" group in there to "overlook" the crimes of "their" people?

"I want a commitment that in 90 days after you get into office, one-third of the staff, including administrators, are people of color," said Juan Jose Lopez, a former Madison School Board member. "Otherwise, there's no reason to be here."

What are they going to do with the third that is already there?

To reduce the number of inmates, Hanson said the county is looking for alternatives to jails for those with mental health and drug issues.

Deportation??

In cases where a misdemeanor has been committed, both said their policy was not to report it to the INS.

"It's not pragmatic to report every undocumented immigrant to the INS," Hanson said. "Though we have a duty to work with the INS and other departments."

How hard is it to FAX a list of names to ICE?

Both candidates spoke about how the crowding of jails and the number of inmate transfers to other counties was uprooting Latinos and from their cultural, community and religious support networks, in addition to costing the county over $2 million a year.

Obviously, there is NO shortage of them in JAIL! Lord knows, we don't want to uproot a criminal from his support networks! Just how crazy is this!??

that they would follow the procedure of notifying the Immigration and Naturalization Service when a felony is committed, but not make it a priority.

Is this man got any spine at all?? In other words, "it's not important and we will do it if we have time." Why don't you just tell them you will do whatever THEY want, because you are a gutless wimp!

Bet a lot of the people in jail are criminals too and maybe they are also afraid of the police. Guess the Sheriff's dpt should hire more criminals too.
What a pompous a-hole "people of color". Give me a break

Remember, its the latins that are the racists. Elected latins in our government never support legislation thats for the good of America, only that which serves the latin. Latin employers will rarely hire anyone else but latin. Most of them do no pay any attention to our EOE laws. Most latin people refuse to speak English....the latins are the racists.

But, I will say that we do have some dynamite latins in this country. I have worked with some of them. They are out there and are probably in disagreement with how their brothers are acting in someone elses country.