Webinar: Community Policing: Finding Common Ground with Immigrant Communities

Cities of Migration hosted a 60-minute webinar to learn about successful outreach strategies in community policing from Cardiff, UK, and Newport News, US, that build confidence and promote public safety within diverse communities. Building an open and informed relationship between local police and immigrant communities increases trust and promotes better understanding of local laws and culture while empowering new immigrants to feel safe in their own cities. This webinar was co-sponsored by the National Leagues of Cities’ Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration (MAII) program.

Watch the Webinar Video

Resources:

• Download the Presentation Slides (PDF)
• Watch and listen to the Question and Answer (Q&A) with speakers, Vince Donovan, Police Constable, South Wales Police Service (Cardiff, UK), and Xavier Falero
  Sergeant, Supervisor for Special Operations Unit, Newport News Police, Department (Newport News, US).
• Read webinar Highlights
• The Cardiff Policesol Program
• Police ESOL at Sheffield-College
• Hispanic Advisory Committee 2009 Annual-Report
• National League of Cities: Public Safety Programs for the Immigrant Community (2011) PDF

Featured Good Ideas:

• In Cardiff (Wales, UK), The Cardiff E.S.O.L. Police Project puts its officers in the classroom to teach English-as-a-second-language classes, community legal information and build trust within the immigrant community. Watch the Video Presentation.
• In Newport News (Virginia, US), the Police Department started its Hispanic Outreach Initiative in response to a growing vulnerable population within the city. The program includes outreach to the immigrant community, cultural training for officers, and regular appearances on the local Hispanic radio station. Watch the Video Presentation.

Speakers

Vince Donovan
Police Constable, South Wales Police Service (Cardiff, UK)

Police Constable Vince Donovan has served in the South Wales Police Service, United Kingdom, for the past twenty six years. He has worked in all major departments within the police service, from roles as a Community Beat Officer, to Criminal Investigation and public order intervention. He was a Community Safety Officer in Cardiff for ten years, tasked with the primary role of assisting with the integration of asylum seekers (and more recently, European Union members) into the communities of South Wales. Police Constable Donovan is now employed as a Counter Terrorism, Community Engagement Officer, providing interventional support services with statutory partners and community organisations.

Xavier Falero
Sergeant, Supervisor for Special Operations Unit, Newport News Police Department (Newport News, US)

Hispanic Outreach Initiative was formed in 2004 by Sergeant Xavier Falero in an effort to build trust and reduce crime in the growing Hispanic Community. Sergeant Falero helped create the City’s first Hispanic Advisory Committee to the City Manager’s Office (HAC). As part of his outreach program, Sergeant Falero has conducted numerous meetings in the community and organized soccer games to develop relationships and trust with the Hispanic Community. He has also been part of a morning radio program on Selecta 1050 AM, that airs on a weekly basis and serves this growing community. Sergeant Falero had served as a Firefighter and Police Officer in New Jersey prior to his appointment as a Newport News Police Officer in July of 1998. After seven years of dedication and hard work, he was promoted to Sergeant in June of 2005.