Warner Robins Police Department invites the Latino community to share their concerns

WARNER ROBINS – The Warner Robins Police Department will host its first ever Latino Community Town Hall on Dec.9 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

At the beginning of the year, the city established a proactive approach on community engagement by hosting town hall meetings throughout the community. Warner Robins Police Chief Wayne Fisher said they identified the city into a north, south, east and west quadrant. The town hall meetings are focused on addressing the needs of the community specifically by each region since, he said, they have different needs.

Fisher said they also strive to be open and transparent within the community, tell them what’s going on within the police department and listen to concerns before a crisis. The town hall meetings want to form a partnership before there are calamities, Fisher said.

Fisher said while hosting these meetings, they noticed there hasn’t been a strong representation from the Hispanic community. He shared the Hispanic community has grown within the city and is valued as citizen members in the community

“We want to ensure that on two points: their needs are being met and addressed and two, that there’s not a perceived bias against that segment to the community. There is not one but a lot of times when we don’t make an active effort to reach out such as that perception can exist,” he said.

The town hall will be set up the same as the previous meetings. Fisher said they don’t try to steer the conversation, and they like the community to come forward and present their concerns or perceptions. They will then adjust to that line of questioning with facts. Fisher shared there will also be Spanish speaking officers present at the meeting. He said as people present their question, they can receive the response back in their native language. 

“[We are] showing that we are more transparent and open and trying to address their concerns and needs with an understanding of our language barriers that do exist and that within the police department we have the ability through multiple Spanish-speaking officers to meet that need with the community,” he said.

Right now, Fisher anticipates question points from the community will address the state’s position on the illegal immigrant situations as well as their concerns on how the department will interface on the federal side. Outside of those talking points, the meeting will also address their questions.

Fisher said they find it important within the police department to make sure they are engaged in their community in a proactive manner. He described it as wanting to hit problems from the “front side” which includes communicating and addressing prompts that are crime based or social based.

Fisher shared law enforcement has become a complex profession, and they are challenged with different topics.

One of those challenges in the Latino community is the language barrier and cultural barriers.

“We’ve noticed there’s not been a significant Hispanic attendance at these town hall meetings and again [we] want to ensure that we’re doing everything we can from the police department to show our openness and willingness to work across all boundary lines within our community and to address all community needs regardless of their stational life or their ethnicities,” he said.

Fisher hopes the Latino community will understand they are a part of the city’s community. He wants them to know they acknowledge that, and they have concerns for them individually the same as they do for other members of the community.

He said they understand that due to cultural and language barriers, there has been a deficiency in services provided to them. Fisher shared they have noticed the barriers come into play when they contact the police department or their concerns about contacting law enforcement to address their challenges. This is due to the community’s concerns about their immigration status.

“They are a victim set that many times we know is being under reported because of these conditions that exist, and we want them to be more comfortable and understand that we’re here to address them as a victim and to make sure that they are getting equal protection and coverage of the law as well,” he said.

The Latino Community Town Hall will be on Monday, Dec.9 at 6 p.m. at Warner Robins City Hall, located at 700 Watson Boulevard.