Thread: Police reach out to Delaware's wary Hispanics

Another sob story from the far left Wilington Snooze Journal !!! It never ends with this reporter.

Police reach out to state's wary Hispanics
Some area officials say community's distrust too hard to overcome
By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • July 21, 2008

When Latino males were targeted in a string of strong-arm robberies last summer, state police struggled to warn the Hispanic community in Canby Park near Wilmington.


The men were victimized, police say, because some Latinos -- especially those who emigrate to this country -- tend to carry cash rather than put it in banks.

They also shy away from calling police, officers say.

"They are fearful of police because of some of the bad experiences they've had with militias in their countries," said Sonia Trudeau, one of 16 bilingual officers with the New Castle County Police. "Many of those encounters have been extremely negative."

It's a trend that makes it difficult to solve crimes against Hispanics and undocumented immigrants, according to law enforcement officials across Delaware.

It's also a divide that some agencies are working to close by taking steps such as:

• Giving pay incentives to officers who learn to speak Spanish.

• Encouraging officers to develop relationships with Hispanic communities.

• Enlisting help from volunteers within those communities to break down the language barrier.

Some police say it's a losing battle.

They say they've tried to bridge the culture gap for years, but can't overcome immigrants' inherit distrust of police and fear of deportation.

Others say things are getting better.

They point to last week's investigation into the killings of two Wilmington-area migrant workers, who allegedly were slain by a co-worker who is in this country illegally.

Police credit members of the Hispanic community with coming forward and offering information that helped them arrest a suspect.

"Without the input from the community, we would have never known about the June 24 fight at their workplace," said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro, a New Castle County police spokesman, about an incident that reportedly motivated the killings.

Community members' willingness to come forward could have been because of a partnership forged with the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington, said Col. Rick Gregory of the county police.

"We assigned an officer full time to work with the LACC and in communities to bridge the gap," Gregory said. "It's been very successful so far."

One outcome of the partnership was the sponsorship of a bilingual public safety event Saturday in Sparrow Run in Bear, which has seen an influx of Hispanic residents.

"That's how you build those relationships," said Maria Matos, executive director of the Latin American Community Center. "It can't be faked."

A uniformed county officer is assigned to the community center and interacts with people in a nonthreatening way, Gregory said.

Trudeau, who also has been assigned to the Sparrow Run community, said she tries to behave like a role model for women.

"I represent my Colombian heritage just being out there," she said. "If they see you in uniform interacting on a day-to-day basis, they see you as human and approachable. It makes them feel more comfortable and at ease because it's not an emergency situation and it lets them know that that person is not bad just because they have a uniform on."

Matos said it also lets Hispanic immigrants know they won't get deported it they report a crime.

According to a Pew Hispanic Center mid-decade census, Delaware had about 50,000 Hispanic residents in 2005, an increase of 34.5 percent from 2000.

Of that figure, roughly 35,000 were undocumented, the Pew Hispanic Report said.

The bulk of that population -- 66 percent -- lived in New Castle County.

Sussex County accounted for 26 percent while Kent County had 8 percent.

A survey by the Latin American Community Center to be released next month indicates that out of 800 people polled, 59 percent are legal U.S. citizens or legal residents in the process of becoming naturalized, Matos said.

One of the questions posed in the poll was: How would you describe the way police in Delaware treat you and your family?

Seventy percent of the 800 respondents replied "friendly." Fifteen percent answered "unfriendly." The rest were undecided.

"So all the different strategies police are using for outreach to build relationships, all the pieces are working together," Matos said.

'A closed society'
Georgetown Police Chief William Topping has a different perspective.

It is challenging to get the more than 4,000 undocumented immigrants living in the Georgetown area to trust and cooperate with police, he said.

"It's a closed society," Topping said. "They don't trust the government and they don't trust police. Unless the crime is heinous, such as a rape or a child molester, we don't get a lot of cooperation."

Several months ago, juveniles from Seaford were arrested for strong-arming Latino men in Georgetown, Topping said.

When interviewed, the juveniles told investigators they chose Latino victims because "they were small, they carried money and they wouldn't tell police."

Topping said his officers are not looking to report crime victims or witnesses to immigration officials.

But if they are criminals, they'll arrest and prosecute them first, then turn them over for deportation.

With illegal entrants, police still must have probable cause that a crime was committed to arrest undocumented workers, officials said.

Most police departments also lack the legal authority to round up Latinos suspected of being in the country illegally.

"The only agency to deal with it is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement," said Lt. Mike McGowan of the New Castle County Police. "We don't have legal authority to arrest an illegal. Unless they are listed in the National Crime Information Center computer as having been a previously deported felon, then we can't take action."

Last year, immigration officials deported 5,588 illegal entrants in the Pennsylvania/Delaware/West Virginia Region. Separate figures were not available for Delaware.

Of those deported, 2,432 were for criminal offenses and the remainder were for noncriminal immigration violations, said Mike Gilhooly, an agency spokesman.

"There is a hesitancy to report crime even when they are a victim, let alone a witness," said Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh of the Delaware State Police.

Overcoming distrust
One way state police reached out to Delaware's growing number of Latinos was sponsoring a Citizens Police Academy in November at the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington.

"From what we've been told, there is a historic distrust for law enforcement which we work hard to overcome," Whitmarsh said. "We went into the Hispanic community with the Citizens Police Academy and I think by meeting them more than halfway, it went a long way to forging some positive relationships."

State police recruits are taught basic conversational Spanish.

They also use a language help line to communicate with anyone in any language, and they have a bilingual victims' services civilian to interact with crime victims, Whitmarsh said.

Individual state police troops also have been directed to find civilians who speak different languages to volunteer as translators.

County police provide training in Spanish and offer officers a pay incentive if they are certified as bilingual.

But some community outreach efforts don't pay off.

"We just had a big campaign here to try to get the Hispanics in Sussex County to report crime, and I have seen no fruit from that tree," said Topping, the Georgetown chief. "For 10 years, I have been doing outreach and they haven't reached back."

That may be because police tend to view all Hispanics, whether they are Mexican, Cuban or Puerto Rican, as illegal, said Matos, of the Latin American Community Center.

"If you're slightly brown-skinned, you're illegal," she said.

Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com.


http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs ... /807210334

"We just had a big campaign here to try to get the Hispanics in Sussex County to report crime, and I have seen no fruit from that tree," said Topping, the Georgetown chief. "For 10 years, I have been doing outreach and they haven't reached back."

Tried it for 10 years and didn't work? Then it's a failure. Stop wasting time on such futile efforts and start enforcing the laws!

Whoever is here legally should have no reason to fear the police. Whoever is here illegally, should pack it in and go home. Try to come in legally or not at all!

"They are fearful of police because of some of the bad experiences they've had with militias in their countries," said Sonia Trudeau, one of 16 bilingual officers with the New Castle County Police. "Many of those encounters have been extremely negative."

I've had some negative experiences with the police. Can I have special treatment now?

If the police condone illegals are they breaking federal laws at some point?

And is a burden being placed on the police? Liability?