OHIO — A nonprofit organization has partnered with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to better understand the Hispanic community that troopers serve.
“This is home. This is where I was born. This is where I was raised. These are the same streets I used to ride my bike on, ” said Sgt. Ray Santiago.
Santiago grew up in Lorain, which has the largest Hispanic population in the state.
That's why he said he's glad to be taking part in a new program that trains state troopers to understand Hispanic cultural differences. The program is headed by Lt. Alan Dunbar, who commands Patrol Post 47 in Lorain County.
“I was promoted here to the Elyria post in 2019 and one of the first things I wanted to do is reach out to the community and really get to know my neighbor,” Dunbar said.
Post 47 recently partnered with the nonprofit group El Centro to find ways to bridge the cultural gap and help troopers do their jobs more efficiently.
“We started talking about the Latino community, how different it is than other cities in Ohio, this being a dominant Puerto Rican community. So we started having those conversations that it was just pure, honest, down-to-earth conversation, getting to know our community, getting to know each other and our organization,” said Victor Leandry, executive director of El Centro.
They met in September to create what they call the Know Your Neighbor manual.
“We ended up coming up with a training program to help us better understand the different cultures and the different folks we deal with every day in the community and how we can better understand one another,” said Dunbar.
“Just looking at everyday interactions from maybe learning how to run someone’s name that’s not from the state or someone that’s born in Latin American countries, they are gonna carry their mother's last name and their identification cards will look different,” said Santiago.
The group plans to eventually provide the training program to police departments across Ohio.
“Every single community, as commanders and officers, as public servants that we take that vested interest in our community.”