Bridging Barriers: Bilingual Policing with Chief Sizemore, Officer Prieto & Officer Rodriguez (in Español AND English)

Language can be the difference between getting help in a crisis or suffering in silence. It's Hispanic Heritage month, and in this special edition of 'Chiefs Chat' on the Cape CopCast, Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore sits down with Officer Carlos Prieto and Officer Amanda Rodriguez to explore how the police force is evolving to serve its rapidly growing Spanish-speaking community.

While officially documented at 25% Spanish-speaking, Chief Sizemore believes Cape Coral's Hispanic population is closer to 30% or higher. This population shift presents unique challenges for emergency services, particularly during high-stress situations when communication barriers can mean the difference between life and death. As Officer Prieto eloquently explains, when a domestic violence victim sees an officer who speaks their language, it creates an immediate sense of trust and comfort that encourages them to share crucial information.

Both officers bring powerful personal perspectives to the discussion. Officer Prieto shares his journey from Cuba in 2012, fleeing communism and waiting five years to become a US citizen before joining the force. Officer Rodriguez, born in Puerto Rico and a Cape Coral resident for over 20 years, transitioned from being a 911 call taker to fulfilling her dream of becoming a police officer. Their stories illuminate why representation matters in effective policing, beyond simply meeting diversity statistics.

The message to Cape Coral's Spanish-speaking residents is clear and compassionate: don't hesitate to call the police when you need help. It's about ensuring everyone enjoys the safety and protection they deserve. As Officer Rodriguez reassures listeners, "If you come to this country to work and fight and move forward, we're here to support you." 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, welcome back to the Cape Cod cast.
Your host looks a littledifferent today.
It's a Chiefs Chat edition.
With me, anthony Sizemore, thepolice chief, lisa Greenberg, is
acting as our producer todaybecause we have a special
episode we are going to be doingEnglish and Spanish.
With me is Officer Prieto andOfficer Rodriguez.

(00:27):
Welcome to the Cape Copcast.
It's important for us to havethis conversation today because
anybody who lives in the cityknows, with all of the people
moving to Cape Coral, thesecret's out.
It's a great place to be.
Florida is a great state to bein.
Cape Coral is an awesome cityand that's for everybody, right?
Everybody wants to be here andin our population in Cape Coral

(00:53):
we are documented 25% Spanishspeaking, and I'd be willing to
bet that the documentation is alittle bit behind the times.
I think we're closer to 30%, ifnot even more.
So I think it's very importantthat we show the community that
we can communicate with them andwelcome everybody.
This is certainly not apolitical statement.

(01:14):
This is just a reality that weare a welcoming community.
We have people that contributeto this great city that we're in
, and one of the goals ofpolicing is, in accreditation
terminology you want to haverepresentation of your service
population.
Now what does that mean?
It means that the policedepartment that you have, or

(01:34):
that you staff, isrepresentative of the people
that you serve.
So if we are 30% Spanishspeaking in the community, we
should strive to be at at least30% Spanish speaking in our
workforce to be able to reflectthat.
And that's not just forstatistics, that's not just for

(01:55):
that's what they say we shoulddo.
That's an actual functioningway to operate as a police
department.
If you can imagine, when you'rein a time of stress and you need
help and your senses get youknow, you lose your fine motor
skills and you are really in astressful situation.
When you see somebody or hearsomebody who looks like you,

(02:19):
sounds like you can communicatewith you, it can be an element
that could bring the temperaturedown, even for a second right,
because if I see somebody wholooks like me, I know that they
may have had the same similarexperiences that I do.
We can relate to each other ona very quick level.
That may be just enough for meto calm down, listen and get

(02:41):
help right, and that's nevermore present when there's a
language barrier.
So I think it's important forus to uh communicate that, that
we do that.
So I'm going to do my besteffort to communicate uh to our
spanish-speaking population, andI brought two of my subject
matter experts to help me when,uh, I don't do so.
Well, so I I'll start withbienvenidos, cape Copcast.

(03:05):
Me llamo Anthony Sizemore.
Yo soy el jefe de policía en elciudad de Cape Coral.
Conmigo es Officer Prieto yOfficer Rodriguez.
The porcentaje of españolhablas en el ciudad es 25 or 30.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, about that about that About that.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
What we said is just what we talked about before.
The population in the Cape thatis Spanish speaking is about 25
to 30 percent.
Es muy importante paracomunicar a todos los people,
all of the people Right, we gotto be able to communicate.
¿por qué tú ven aquí, a policíaen el Cape Coral?

(03:49):
Qué es tú?
¿trabajas conmigo?

Speaker 3 (03:52):
aquí Soy el oficial Bredo.
Soy originalmente de Cuba.
I'm originally from Cuba.
I came here in 2012.
Going away from communism andeverything Didn't want that in
my life.
So decidí venir para losEstados Unidos.
Llegué a Miami.
I had to wait at least fiveyears to become a US citizen and

(04:16):
then be able to apply for aposition with the police
department.
I looked around over there,applied for a couple of them.
Didn't get hired, so I startedaround over there, applied for a
couple of them.
Didn't get hired, so I startedcoming over to the West Coast
and then I applied with Collierand Cape and Cape offered me the
job first.
So that's why I'm here.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Muy bien.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Por eso fue que vine por este lado.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Y tú.
Bueno, yo soy Oficial Rodríguez.
Yo nací en Puerto Rico hace20've been living in Cape Coral
for a little over 20 years now,so this is home to me 20 years.
Yeah, more than 20 years In thetime that I've been here, I saw
how you guys worked so I likedit.
I started working with thecounty of Lee.

(05:08):
I was making 911 calls and Idecided to continue with my
career and I made an applicationto come here and be a police
officer.
So I started as a 911 calltaker at the Lee County
Sheriff's Office and I kind ofwanted to continue my career.
So I decided to make the jumpapply over here at CAPE and

(05:29):
become a police officer.
And I'm here now.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Muy bien¿.
Cuántos años trabajos aquí?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yo llevo tres años, three years.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Three years, how long did you?
Work here Three years Y tú.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yo he estado aquí desde el 2019, so going on seven
years, voy a siete años ya.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Años rápido.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, Pasa bien rápido El tiempo.
Pasa muy rápido El tiempo boom.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Se va volando.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Okay, so, officer Prieto, ¿por qué es importante
representar a Hablamos Españolen la Ciudad Para policía?

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Bueno, es bien importante cuando uno va a las
llamadas.
Uno va a tantas llamadas quenosotros respondemos día a día.
Cuando uno llega a una llamada,especialmente vamos a poner por
ejemplo una llamada doméstica,violencia doméstica y te
encuentras con una víctima quesolamente se comunica en español
.
Cuando uno se puede acomodar aellos, cuando uno se puede

(06:28):
acercar a ellos y hablarles elmismo idioma que ellos entienden
, ellos lo aceptan de una manerabien, bien, bien.
Bienvenida Por decir día a día,desde que yo empecé acá, ha
pasado los años, yo he observadocomo la comunidad hispana ha
crecido.
Ha crecido y es muy importante.
And what I ask is here to helpthem not to get away from us or

(06:49):
anything.
It's very important to sendthat message out.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
And what I ask is why is it important for the police
to be able to communicate withsuch a large segment of our
population?

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Going out there for, let's say, a victim of domestic
violence.
You get there and they onlyspeak Spanish.
You're able to talk to them andthey relate more to you because
you speak their language.
You speak the language theyunderstand and sometimes that's
that feels like home for them,so they're more open to you.
They're more open to tell youwhat actually happened, what

(07:34):
really happened and things likethat and any other calls.
You know people see that we arethere, we're trying, we're
helping them and we're here tosupport them, not to like, not
for them to be afraid of usright and and not just as the
victim of a crime, let's saythey saw something correct.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
But if they're like me, I don't have a very strong
command of espanol.
You know the, but I may notfeel comfortable because I don't
want to butcher the englishlanguage if I don't speak it, so
I may not tell you somethingthat's important.
But if I know, you know mylanguage, we speak the same
language then I may may feelmore comfortable to tell you

(08:11):
something that maybe I don'tthink it's important, but it
could be a vital piece to beable to solve it Right.
So that so it's it's.
It helps everybody to be ableto do that.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
And I've experienced that myself in the seven years
of being here.
So it's very important, it'sreally good.
So people appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
And now your turn, ¿por qué es importante comunicar
español en la ciudad, comonosotros explicamos que aquí en
Cape Coral se está creciendo, túsabes, la La comunidad en los
latinos, los hispanos, estánveniendo de Miami, de otros

(08:49):
países, a Florida y específicoen Cape Coral.
Hay mucha gente que nos estánllamando o no quieren llamar
porque no hablan inglés,solamente hablan español Cuando
ellos llamen.
La primera pregunta es¿necesito un oficial que hable
español?
Antes, en el pasado, no habíaoficiales que hablaban español.
Ahora se está creciendo eldepartamento encogiendo gente

(09:11):
que son hispanos y que hablan elmismo idioma.
So para mí es importante porqueahora la gente se siente
incómoda de llamarnos.
Tú sabes si necesitan cualquiercosa to basically translate
that.
I was just saying how, likewe've discussed've discussed the
, the population is growing andbefore, back in the past, maybe

(09:31):
people didn't contact us becausethey weren't sure if we had
Latin officers or anyone thatspoke Spanish, and I feel like,
as it continues, they'rerealizing that there is more of
us and they're more comfortablein contacting us, whatever it
may be that they need our helpfor.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Right, and I thank you for doing that.
Muchas gracias para información.
And why this is important.
Like I said, there's a lot ofmacro political overtones with
immigration enforcement rightnow.
This has nothing to do withthat.
This is us and our communitytrying to make it safe.
Allow everybody to enjoy theAmerican dream, no matter where

(10:08):
you're from.
You're here, you'recontributing, you're working
hard, you're you're raising yourfamily and you want to enjoy
that life safely, and that's whywe're here.
You know to to be able to dothat.
And in order to do that, youhave to be able to to meet the
people where they are, and andlanguage is the number one way
to communicate and be where theyare, be it on a 911 call or

(10:31):
when you show up at a call forservice, or even on a traffic
stop where somebody's lost,we're here to help.
That's our DNA is to be able tohelp people.
So if you want to be the bestwhich is our mission statement
we want to be the premier agencyin Florida be the best.
In order to be the best, youhave to be available, you have

(10:52):
to be able to communicate, youhave to be able to deliver top
flight service to everyone, toeveryone, and that's what this
is about.
So the more I speak, the worseI will get.
So I will wrap it with that.
I will say muchas gracias andthank you for being here.

(11:14):
It was really good, reallyinformative.
I would love to speak as fast asyou can.
I got about 75% on both.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
I would like to speak as fast in English as you can.
I can go a lot faster than this.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
I can go like an auctioneer.
No, thank you for taking timeout of your day to be here.
I think it's very important andI think it's going to be very
beneficial for the community toknow that it's intentional right
.
We are growing as a city andwe're growing as a department,
so we didn't specifically go andI didn't give a directive to

(11:51):
our our public affairs team Ineed you to go find 30% of our
workforce to be Latino orSpanish speaking.
That happened organically,because the community is growing
at that same proportion.
Our department is growing atthat same proportion too, so
we're we're organicallyreflecting our service
population, which I think iswonderful, and I couldn't be

(12:11):
happier with the work that we'redoing as a whole.
But the need that you and theother great many bilingual
officers that we have are reallyfulfilling a need in the
community and I thank you for it, and I know the community is
grateful too.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, just to basically reiterate what you
just said in Spanish it's veryimportant that the community
knows that we are here to servethem, to help them.
Don't be afraid to call us whenyou are in danger, when you are
a victim of a crime or haveobserved a crime.

(12:47):
It's very important that theytrust us that we're going to
help them, not to take them outor arrest them.
If you come to this country towork and fight and move forward,
we're here to support you.
If you commit a crime, thenthere's a problem, but as long
as you're focused on your work,on your studies, on moving

(13:09):
forward with us, you won't haveany kind of problem.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Anything you'd like to add towrap.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
If you have any questions, please call us.
As he explained, we're not hereto hurt you.
We're here to help you Anything.
You can call us.
There are many officials whowork here who speak Spanish, que
no estamos aquí para hacertedaño.
Estamos aquí para ayudarteCualquier cosa.
Nos puedes llamar.
Hay muchos oficiales quetrabajan aquí que hablan español
y te pueden dar cualquierinformación que usted necesita.
No estamos aquí para, you know,hacerte daño para nada.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Very good, and I will tell you this whether you speak
English, spanish, german, signlanguage, any communication at
all, if these two officers showup, it's muy bien.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
So thank you very much, thank you.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's a wrap today, and I will end it with adios, mi
amigos, adios.