City plans Latino-friendly crime reporting program

A new campaign from the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office hopes to get the Spanish-speaking community to report violent crimes.

The campaign kicked off earlier this month with a new poster campaign that says “Domestic Violence is a Community Problem, Join Us To Be A Part of The Solution” in Spanish, said Chris Gaal, Monroe County prosecuting attorney. 

Gaal said the Latino Spanish-speaking community was seen as underserviced. Many of its members are not even documented. 

Part of the campaign includes a Spanish translation of the Victim’s Assistance Program brochure, Gaal said. 

In addition, the prosecutor’s office and the Bloomington Police Department have started using a language-line service that connects the caller with a live translator. The service includes 175 languages including Spanish. 

“It’s very important for a community like Bloomington with a University with international students,” he said. “They can be more comfortable talking about a traumatic incident in their native language.”

Gaal said the program started by having meetings with local leaders brainstorming ideas how the prosecutor’s office could do a better job of serving the Spanish-speaking community. 

Some of the leaders included people from the Latino Coalition Against Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence, St. Paul’s Catholic Center, The City of Bloomington’s Latino Programs and Safe and Civil City Program and La Casa/Latino Cultural Center. 

“It was about building trust and letting Latino residents know that we will respond,” he said.

Elizabeth Lopez works for the Middle Way House’s transitional housing program. She is one of the community members featured on the poster. 

Lopez works with people who face domestic violence. She said there is more than just the language that prevents the Latino Spanish-speaking community from reporting crimes. 

“Their greatest fear is weighed on the fact that they don’t know much about our law system,” she said.

Lopez said some of the people she has worked with are afraid of repercussions such as being sent back to their native country because they reported a crime to the police.  
Gaal said the translated brochure explains the legal rights of crime victims and gives them insight into testifying at trials. 

Melissa Britton, the Latino outreach coordinator for Bloomington’s Community and Family Resources Department, said the campaign is also spreading the message through a public service announcement on local radio and through newsletters.

The program is using existing resources to better serve the Spanish-speaking community, Gaal said. 

Lopez said she hopes the program will have more presentations for members of the community in the future. 

She said hopefully through the outreach program and word-of-mouth more members of the Spanish speaking community will become more knowledgeable about reporting crimes. 

“The information that I share with them, they then share it with their friends in the community,” she said.