Thread: New Spanish-Speaking Police Hotline in North Las Vegas

www.klastv.com

Cindy Cesare, Reporter
New Spanish-Speaking Police Hotline in North Las Vegas
Aug 11, 2005, 10:09 PM

The biggest minority is Hispanics, and in the City of North Las Vegas, they make up 46-percent of the population.

Many of them speak no English. And to help bridge the communication gap, the North Las Vegas Police Department has set up a new Spanish-speaking hotline. The motto is welcome to friendly North Las Vegas. And the police department is trying to be even friendlier with the Spanish-speaking population.

Teresa Gomez only speaks Spanish and feels comfortable using the public transportation system. But she has had frustrations calling the police department in the past to report her noisy neighbors. "Because they don't answer fast enough, because they don't speak a lot of Spanish. It is better that they can communicate, I think."

Soledad Garcia helps Hispanic residents in North Las Vegas. She's in charge of the police department's new Latino community connection hotline -- a non-emergency number for Spanish-speaking residents.

Garcia says, "This is only for non-emergency calls that we will be receiving on this line. If they need immediate assistance they can call 911. Here they can call with questions related to anything going on in their community, to report graffiti activity or abandoned vehicles, things of that nature."

The phone line is confidential and the police department is not concerned with a resident's immigration status.

The department started the hotline to open up the lines of communications with Hispanic residents and possibly reduce crime.

Garcia adds, "It opens up that line of communication and at the same time it strengthens the link they have with the police department and makes their community a safer place to live."

And residents like Teresa Gomez may call back and report on her nosy neighbors. "Yes, yes, it is possible," she says.

If you still have an emergency in North Las Vegas and you only speak Spanish, you still call 911. You will be transferred to a Spanish-speaking operator in that case.

The non-emergency Latino community hotline number is 633-1818. Calls will be answered between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but you can leave a message.

Yet even more Hispandering!

The phone line is confidential and the police department is not concerned with a resident's immigration status.