On an afternoon a few years ago, Riverhead resident “Josefa”was walking towards Main Street down Roanoke Avenue when a car stopped next to her. A man and a woman asked her for directions and quickly struck a conversation with her.
“Where are you going?” she said they asked her. “Are you going to wire money? We get it, we are too. ”
Josefa — whose name has been changed at her request — is a native of Guatemala and each week sends some money to her elderly parents, something that is common among the thousands of Latino immigrants living on the East End. That day, a Friday, she was going to the store to do just that and had about $300 in her purse, but wary of the couple’s smiles, she gave the man a vague reply.
The man, sensing her discomfort, quickly changed the topic and started talking about work and telling Josefa of “an excellent opportunity.” He said they lived just down the road and if she was okay with it, she could come with them to get some information from their house to give to her regarding a great job opportunity, it would only take a minute.
Josefa got in the car and after a couple of blocks, they stopped at a house that she says looked abandoned.
“Can you please go knock on the door? we are picking up a friend,” the man asked.
Josefa got out of the car and went to knock on the door. As she turned around, she saw the car leaving. Her purse, with all her money, identification and even house keys, was inside.
Angry and hurt, Josefa tried to give chase, but the car quickly disappeared from view and she was left without nothing and no way to call her family.
“I felt ashamed and so angry,” she said. “They had been nice to me and I never imagined they would steal all my money and things.”
However, an incident that would outrage anyone and where Josefa was a clear victim, was never reported to local police. Josefa said other Latinos in the area had also been similarly duped.
“I don’t speak any English and I was afraid because of my status,” Josefa said. “I felt powerless, I didn’t know what to do.”
And Josefa is not alone.
Local Latinos sometime hesitate to report crimes or to come forward as witnesses due to language barriers, fear or lack of trust or information, something that can be remedied if the right steps are taken, said Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island.
These are steps that the Riverhead Police Department, thanks to OLA — a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that promotes social, economic, cultural and educational development for the Latino community in the East End since 2002 — has already started to take.
The organization created a Latino diversity training course for law enforcement last year in order to address some of the issues that arise between East End Latino members of the community and law enforcement and how to mitigate them so common goals are shared. Southampton Town Police was the first East End department to complete the training last year, and now, Riverhead.
“We contacted Riverhead Police Department and Chief Hegermiller was very receptive and immediately said yes,” said Perez. “Riverhead has already very good things in place, we learned from them as much as they learned from us, it was a great experience.”
“It’s important to better understand your community, and this is a diverse community and we need to care,” said Riverhead Town Police Chief David Hegermiller. “This training allowed us to put the shoe on the other foot so we can understand what people are feeling on the other side, it’s about creating awareness.”
Members of Riverhead police, including dispatchers, sergeants, lieutenants, police officers and others, completed the mandatory training last month, something Chief Hegermiller said he felt very proud of.
“The only time they had available to do it was from 9:50 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. after their shift at night, and even though it was late, everybody was very involved and we shared a lot of information,” said Perez. “It was an honest discussion of things specific to Riverhead.”
The course consisted of one weekly session between OLA and about 12-15 Riverhead Town Police members repeated over a 5-week period with different groups. Topics and exercises included using Language Line effectively — a key interpretation and translation service that is accessible in multiple languages 24/7—how to communicate with someone who is displaying fear or insecurity and immigration facts, among others.
Riverhead Police have been using Language Line for about two years, said Hegermiller. All police patrol cars are equipped with the service and police officers have a cell phone where they can access language line. However, during role play exercises during the training, officers discovered that having the service is not enough, knowing how to use it in specific ways can make all the difference.
“We are doing everything we can to create awareness and these kinds of trainings are beneficial for everyone,” said Hegermiller. “ Understanding each other is very important.”
Perez said that there are barriers and myths about the Latino community in general — myths that also extend to law enforcement and the role they play—that need to be dispelled.
“When you put people in a box over and over again, no matter who it is, it is not good for anybody and is not good for the community,” Perez said.
For Latinos, fear and lack of information can stem from not being a fluent English speaker, not knowing how police procedures and the legal process works, as well as from being undocumented—or having someone close to them undocumented—among other key factors that police departments need to take into account when engaging with Latino members of the community.
Similarly, law enforcement, especially local police departments, and what they do and don’t do, is something that needs to be addressed, said Perez.
“We want more people to report crime, of course, but there needs to be a two-way street dialogue, which is fundamental,” Perez said. “Our goal is to work with law enforcement, so Latino members of each town know and can trust police there and viceversa.”
Latinos in Riverhead have been attacked, or robbed, on several occasions near or around the railroad tracks, something that police has knowledge of and is trying to prevent, said Perez. Marine safety is also an issue that Riverhead Police is concerned about. They created a video about the areas that are dangerous an how to be prepared when you’re at sea and OLA helped with the translation.
“We are going to continue to do everything we can to reduce fear among the Hispanic community and make sure they know they can trust Riverhead Police Department,” said Hegermiller. “Slowly, but surely it will get better.”
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