Truthfully, I’ve been too busy to be as diligent with my blog writing as I need or want to be, but I thought I had dedicated one blog to talking about the program and everything it has to offer.

The process of getting La Voz together has been, well, quite the process. I have wanted to write about the frustrations and issues all along, but a large part of me doesn’t like putting negative energy into the “blog-sphere.” (Yes, that’s one of my words…I think) But now the rough waters are beginning to calm, and I can see where I could have shared.

La Voz was a project I came up with over the summer while working with the Carrboro Police Department. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the meanderings I was doing mentally would turn into a solid idea. I worked there as an office girl, and part-time interpretor. I was able to assist the police officers and detectives when someone came in who could only speak Spanish – if they needed my help.

The police department does not have anyone on their staff who is fluent in Spanish, and with Carrboro’s Latino population resting at 9.1%, that’s a significant chunk of the community who is unable to communicate. To be fair, the CPD is actively looking for officers who are fluent, and would like to incorporate more Spanish speakers to the team.

But, this lack resulted in arrests for small tickets, or other time and money consuming activities which were often the consequence of simply not being understood. It is not natural for Latinos to appear in court for every ticket they are given.

I saw pain and frustration among the non-English speakers (some whom were not Spanish speakers), and the police department on money and time wasted in the court systems. I asked myself repeatedly how this could be solved. I knew there had to be a solution.

The solution came to me as most ideas or “solutions” (I call them Ahna solutions) do – at 3 a.m. when I am being an insomniac and can’t seem to turn my brain off. But, like all great ideas it was thought over, and then pushed aside because I didn’t have the time or the resources to begin such an endeavor.

The time came through a project in my Latina/o Media Studies class at UNC-Chapel Hill. We weren’t supposed to create a solution to the communities need, we were just supposed to create media products that would help Latinos. Of course, I took it to the extreme.

La Voz Translation Services is a volunteer-based program that will assist the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Police Departments in their communication with non-English speaking residents. It will also assist non-English speaking residents communicate with the police department. The program is to remain neutral in all its interactions, and remain “The Voice” between two languages.

La Voz Translation Services

The program has incredible potential to truly meet the needs of the community on several levels, and although we are initially going to begin working with the police departments, the goal is to reach out to other government and local organizations in the future. And I plan to extend the languages offered through the program.

La Voz has been featured in several publications, and was just asked to be interviewed by La Voz Presenta which is a television program in Kinston, North Carolina. The weekly show is shown across 26 counties, and seen by over three million viewers.

La Voz is currently in talks with two organizations heavily rooted in the Triangle, one with UNC-CH, and the other within the community. Both of these partnerships would enable La Voz the support and resources to elevate to a level where it could make an enormous impact. Exciting news will be coming….

I am including links to the articles published on La Voz, as well as our Facebook and Twitter accounts. I plan to create the website over my Christmas break, and will post that link as well when it is completed.

Please look into the program, follow us on Twitter, “like” our Facebook page (to stay up on news), and share your feedback and ideas. Programs such as these are conceived through one individual, but are given flight through the participation of many individuals. I welcome any ideas.

Latino Journalism and Media at Carolina (latijam)

Carrboro Commons

The Daily Tar Heel

La Voz Translation Services Facebook Page (please note, you will need to be signed into Facebook to access the page – if the link does not work you can search “La Voz Translation Services” and it will come right up)

@LaVozNC Twitter

Please feel free to contact us for volunteer opportunities at lavoztranslation@gmail.com

Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass sat down with citations in hand. All six were cited for driving without a license. As the pages turned he read the reason behind the citation and disclosed the race of the offender-three Hispanics, one African American and two Caucasians.

Pendergrass is running for reelection in part on a platform of tolerance.

“My policy is everyone should get the same courtesy regardless of race. We don’t have problems with Hispanics in Orange County. As law enforcement we must treat everybody like we want to be treated because we are not here in servitude, but we are the servants of the people,” said Pendergrass.

Pendergrass has been in law enforcement since 1957 and credits his open-mindedness to previous law enforcers he worked under before becoming the sheriff.

“I had a couple of the best mentors in the Chapel Hill police department. Chief W.D. Blake was one that came to us in the summer of ’62 and said that sit-ins were going to begin. We were to go and do our job, but we were to be compassionate and understandable because we had to live here,” said Pendergrass.

“I also credit it to the great University of North Carolina. Even if you don’t attend or graduate from UNC-CH, a lot of that good stuff rubs off on you,” said Pendergrass.

In the sheriff’s office Hispanics are only brought in if they have committed a crime. Then they are entered into the system through fingerprinting. This enables the SBI, FBI and immigration services to monitor for repeat offenders.

“Unless it is a serious crime, they are not going to come in and deport a Hispanic. Immigration calls us, we don’t call them. Sometimes they will simply call in and ask to speak with the Hispanic before being released,” said Pendergrass.

According to reports available through the sheriff’s office, in 2009 the Orange County ran 280 sets of fingerprints through the system, and only 12 of those Hispanics were turned over to immigration.

Hispanics and other immigrants are dealt with in the same manner across the county by other law enforcement departments and many credit the unique behavior to the diversity of the area.

“When you are in a university town and you deal with student populations, you deal with well-educated people. Your thinking tends to be a little different about other cultures in trying to understand them, and the compassion it takes to deal with people coming from different backgrounds,” said Captain Booker of the Carrboro Police Department.

Carrboro and Chapel Hill police departments work diligently to have patience with the communication gaps and use the resources that are provided to them to understand as best they can.

Corporal Frye of the Carrboro police department said that officers have many resources available, including a language line where they can call and have someone translate if necessary.

“Usually Hispanics find someone to help them translate before police arrive and if we cannot find someone to help, then we have a language line that will translate back and forth for us. We do everything we can to communicate, and I don’t think we have any problems, it just takes longer,” said Frye.

It is not difficult for police departments to earn reputations of being hard-nosed or difficult when it comes to dealing with minorities in any fashion, but that is not the case in Orange County.

“Generally speaking, I think the officers bring a non-biased approach in dealing with the Hispanic population, and I say that honestly. I think our guys have bought into the philosophy of doing the right thing and policing has changed. It is more about the root of the problem and trying to point them in the right direction with the resources available so that they can live a better life,” said Officer Pardo, of the Chapel Hill police department.

“This community has progressed because of the attitudes of the leaders in the communities, the mayors, the aldermen, and the commissioners. Sometimes we are criticized in Orange County for being too liberal, but I don’t think we are so liberal that we would want someone harmed. We try to get along with people,” said Pendergrass.

“I give them whatever advice I can give them. One of the first questions they ask is about being undocumented and I say we don’t even look at your documentation status, we are here to serve everyone equally,” said Pardo.

Pardo works for the Chapel Hill Police Department and in conjunction with the Carrboro Police Department as the Hispanic Liaison for the two neighboring towns. He is seen as a trustworthy policeman in the eyes of many Hispanics in the area.

Carrboro and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, have a liberal stance in dealing with Hispanic immigrants compared to some surrounding jurisdictions.

“Carrboro was one of the first agencies to come out and take some stance on direction as far as how to deal with this (immigration). We were not the very first, but one of the first in the nation. And I know Chapel Hill was early on as well,” said Captain J.G. Booker of the Carrboro Police Department.

On May 16, 2007, the mayor and Board of Aldermen passed a policy that stated, “The Carrboro Police Department will not seek to arrest persons when the sole basis for arresting such persons is that such persons have or may have committed a civil immigration violation.”

“Our policy is that our officers will not ask anybody about their immigration status, and the only time their documentation status comes into play is if they commit a serious crime,” said Pardo.

This stance has allowed for some Hispanics to be permitted to return to their homes after being caught with minor traffic violations, instead of being taken to jail.

Recently a man from Guatemala was pulled over. He was found without identification and the vehicle was not his. After uncovering the reasoning behind the situation, we were able to let him go, and he was very thankful, said Pardo.

This attitude varies slightly with surrounding counties. Wake and Alamance counties both have the 287G program in place, which gives local officers federal training in order to assist in the recognition of illegal immigrants in their areas.

The backbone of the program consists of a computer system that is available to the local branches and includes information from government enforcement across the nation.

It includes fingerprints from sources such as the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and when an individual is booked for a crime they have the resources to know his immigration status without delay.

“If someone has committed a crime they are brought to my jail and are immediately checked through the system. I need to know who is in my jail, and if they are illegal then they are turned over to ICE,” said Sheriff Donnie Harrison of Wake County.

According to the ICE Web site, their mission is “to protect the security of the American people and homeland by vigilantly enforcing the nation’s immigration and customs laws.”

The 287G program, “allows a state and local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE, under a joint Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), in order to receive delegated authority for immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions,” as stated on the ICE Web site.

In 2008, 3,100 immigrants were placed in deportation proceedings from seven counties in North Carolina under the 287G program. But more than 1,200 of those people where stopped for traffic violations other than impaired driving, according to an article in the News & Observer.

However, the article stated that some civil rights activists were against “arresting someone for speeding because of their questionable immigration status takes limited resources from law enforcement that could be used to fight serious crime. The practice also leaves people of color open to racial profiling.”

The policy put into place in Carrboro and Chapel Hill is in direct opposition of such behavior. Some local jurisdictions felt that local officers don’t really have the authority to enforce federal law, says Booker.

“What we do is enforce laws either by state law or city ordinance so our direction was that we will let the feds deal with that and we will deal with what we deal with locally,” said Booker.

But all three counties agree that if a crime is committed against an illegal immigrant, then the best course of action would be to notify the police in their area.

“We are here to help and would not be interested in looking into the immigration status of an individual if they were to report a crime,” said Harrison.

(My first news article on Hispanics-it may or may not be picked up by local news chains)