November 26, 2008 8:21 AM
As reported in Newsday yesterday and today, the fifth precinct, which includes Patchogue, has a new Commander who is Hispanic.
In today's article, Newsday speaks to the new Commander, Aristides Mojica, and he says that running the fifth precinct will be difficult. He acknowledges that this may not be a one time tragedy saying "You can't assume it's an anomaly, you can't assume it will never happen again. You can't assume that bad behavior is localized to Patchogue."
I think anyone who thinks this couldn't happen outside of Patchogue is living in a very thick bubble.
The one thing I was happy to see Commander Mojica say was "The distrust factor is not going to go away with the wave of a magic wand."
He's right. And I don't think I could have said it any better myself.
Through the many community events we've attended in the last couple of weeks since this tragedy, many Latinos shared how they were the target of violence. When I asked one of the young men why he was telling me about this and didn't go to the cops his answer was simple...."you're here, you care. The cops won't listen and they may ask about papers."
Other people we spoke to had gone to the cops only to have their cases go nowhere.
Commander Mojica is moving to a situation where the problems run deep....and are much larger than Patchogue.
Our high schoolers believe a past time called "beaner jumping" is a great hobby. Never heard of "beaner jumping" before this, ask some high schoolers what it is, I bet they know. Two weeks ago, 70 people searched for the term beaner jumping to get to our website (Pat had a blog where he reports that's what the 7 teens were doing). That's just plain scary.
Commander Mojica not only has to do work in the schools, but will also have to work within the community to provide more opportunities for teenagers.
Within both the Hispanic and immigrant communities, building trust will be a long and shaky process. The problems and violence these two communities face is engrained in the perpetrators who specifically target these people. There's no immediate fix.
It is possible to do small baby steps. Increase patrols late at night when people get off at work at bus stops and throughout Latino and immigrant communities. Do reachout so they know the patrols are there to protect them, not harass them. Setup meetings where the community can come and tell you their worries and concerns. This will include night meetings and going to churches who have service in different languages. Commander Mojica can't assume they are going to come to him. HE (not someone under him) need to go to them.
And the violence won't end. Until our children know better (why they didn't before now is still baffling to me), they will still consider this a past time. Not all children mind you, but it only takes one and we have all failed. Keeping the lines of communication open and listening to people when they are a victim of a hate crime (which we all hope Commander Mojica tracks the REAL numbers) will slowly build trust.
Our police should be allies not foes. Commander Mojica also is the child of immigrants (from Puerto Rico) and had this to say "Some of the work that [new immigrants] do today ... the restaurant, the dishwasher, working in a hotel, the laundromat, those are all jobs that I know my parents and grandparents had."
The hope is that he will look at the fifth precinct communities and see his parents and grandparents working hard and helping to stregthen Long Island.....working for the American dream.
One more note: Commander Mojica, there are many colleges in the area that offer advanced Spanish....invest in it for yourself and for our communities. And do a survey of what other languages are spoken throughout the fifth precinct and make sure you have immediate access to translators in case they are ever in need of your services.
The new commander, who is Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent, could easily recruit more Hispanics onto the police force, but since graduation rates are low for Hispanics, the principal source of getting recruits is by Hispanics taking and passing the GED. In Suffolk County, the GED is acceptable and not two or for years of college as the minimum requirement to get this good paying job with good benefits.
The new commander can work with the schools and the community to insure greater GED success and I hope to organize this effort. This effort should be expanded to all of Suffolk County, of course. Assemblyman Phil Ramos, a retired police officer, could be one of the people driving home this point to the county officials who are needed to bring about change.
A new report made in cooperation with the Mayor's agency Department of Youth and Community Development of New York City shows that 1.6 million adults do not have a GED and only 10,732 earned a GED in the city in the entire year of 2006. The report calls for a doubling and tripling of the number of GED's each year in the city. The Brentwood GED program was closed down in May and our youth and adults have been put at risk. Communities near Brentwood may become much less competitive for jobs and higher education if no new center is set up soon.
By Martin N. Danenberg "El Quijote del GED" November 26, 2008 09:24 AM