Latino Youth Meet With Chiefs of Police at Forum Hosted by Identity

Gazette.net

Police chiefs, Latino youth open talks to improve relationship
Wednesday, April 8, 2009,

by Sebastian Montes | Staff Writer
The room filled at times with laughter, while at others, the tension lay at the surface as county Police Chief J. Thomas Manger and Gaithersburg Police Chief John King met Monday with more than 60 Latino youths to hear their perceptions and experiences with police.
By the end of the two-hour forum at the Bohrer Activity Center in Gaithersburg, the dialogue brought on a lighter mood — and what Manger hoped will be a lasting measure of mutual understanding.
The youth advisory board of Identity Inc., a Gaithersburg-based nonprofit, hosted the forum in the wake of the county's move to refer everyone arrested and charged with violent crimes and gun violations to federal immigration agents.
Manger bore close scrutiny during deliberations on the new policy. On Monday, he did not shy away from the fact that police and the Latino community are on strained terms.
"My fear is that some of you had contact where you didn't feel you were treated with respect and dignity by the police," Manger told the teens, translated by 5th District Community Services Officer Marcus Dixon. "Those are the conversations we need to have, so you understand from our perspective the job that we're trying to do. And we need to understand from your perspective about how our actions make you feel."
The teens had free reign for the better part of an hour to question the chiefs. Lina Juyo, a 16-year-old at Clarksburg High School and member of Identity's youth board, worried that innocent people could be mistakenly caught up in the county's new immigration policy.
Adamant that county police continue not to ask anyone their immigration status, Manger assured Juyo that the arrests are made solely on evidence.
"You bring up a very difficult situation," he said. "We're talking about crimes of violence, so just being somewhere at the wrong place at the wrong time probably is not going to get you arrested. … We don't have too many cases where someone is just totally innocent that ends up getting arrested for a crime of violence."
Many of the questions came from personal experience: What information they have to give out in accidents; What rights they have when an officer frisks them or asks to search their car; What police do about "racist officers."
King stressed that officers are trained to focus on behavior, not appearances. Using an example of an officer who confronts someone who says they do not speak English, he reminded the teens that the apprehension can go both ways. In those situations, can make all the difference.
"Oftentimes the police, and the community we police, are suspicious of motives," King said. "Trust is the key."