ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Roughly 3% of Roanoke speaks Spanish, according to census data, and for those who don’t speak English and immigrated to Virginia, there can be a barrier when contacting police.
FTO Jose Martinez is a founding member of the Roanoke Police Department’s Hispanic Liaison Team. He says some Hispanic Roanokers may not know they can talk to a Spanish-speaking officer, or they don’t know what resources and services police in the U.S. provide. That’s why he got the new liaison team going.
“More or less, it came from just the need I was seeing,” he said. “I grew up in the community, I knew there was a lot of apprehensiveness to contact law enforcement, growing up I saw it, while working I saw it.”
Faith-based organizations support Hispanic families in the Roanoke Valley
The team heads out into the community to reach Roanoke’s Spanish-speaking population and share information…