Latino advocates: New police effort a small step forward

Latino advocates and lawmakers say while they welcome new Suffolk police directives to improve communication with non-English-speakers, the action is one small step forward to improving a long tense relationship between police and the community.

"I welcome any initiatives that help bridge the gap between the police department and the community," said Assemb. Phil Ramos (D-Central Islip). "But it's a shame that it took a tremendous amount of public outcry and a federal probe to bring these changes."

Suffolk police have issued orders outlining how officers should use interpreters, notify the public of language assistance options and provide written materials in languages other than English.

Officers will be required to take a "Simple Spanish Commands" class and will have to log how they tried to bridge communication gaps with non-English speakers.

Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer has said that the orders were a result of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the department's handling of crimes against Latinos.

The federal probe was prompted by a complaint from LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a Manhattan-based national advocacy group. The complaint followed the killing of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant stabbed in Patchogue in November 2008, in what authorities have labeled a hate crime.

Foster Maer, senior counsel for the group, said in a statement that given the department's "failure to meet the basic needs of the Latino community, the Suffolk County police is not in a position to decide what reforms it needs to take in order to serve the Latino community fairly."

Advocates noted that while teaching officers Spanish phrases may help, schooling them in cultural differences is equally important. "It's not only Spanish, they need to learn more about our countries to learn about why people are coming here," said Matilde Parada, director of Human Solidarity, a Farmingville-based group.

Luis Valenzuela, executive director of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, agreed.

"It's encouraging to see that they are starting to look at this . . . but I think they need to go a step beyond and meet with groups like the Long Island Immigrant Alliance when they're doing programs like this," he said.Police have also launched a program in which outside mediators can help resolve low-level complaints against officers. But the fact that the mediators won't impose any findings makes them effectively powerless, Ramos said. "It's uncertain what they'll actually do."