Community group calls on Riverside Police Department to become more bilingual

Religious and community leaders met with Riverside Police Department officials on Monday to discuss accountability and community involvement in altering or changing department policies.

At the top of those requests for change was a call for the department to become more bilingual.

The Inland Congregations United for Change (ICUC) met with Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz and five other officers in his department at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Riverside.

Over a dozen community members gathered at the church to talk with and ask questions of officers.

ICUC said in a statement that the purpose of the meeting was for the community and police to work together toward solutions in areas such as the department’s hiring practices, use of equipment, how the community can hold the department accountable and how the department trains officers.

“This is the sixth time we’ve met with the Riverside Police Department this year,” said Terrance Howard, a spokesman for ICUC, an organization that represents 60,000 families across 40 congregations. “I believe we can work hand-in hand to solve any problem. We need accountability in use of force by police, and we need to define accountability for the community and police.”

Wesley Willow, another ICUC representative, said all officers in Riverside should take a compulsory Principled Police Training program, which is an eight-hour class that would train officers on the historic and generational effects of policing, as well as implicit biases.

Diaz said training would take place for senior command staff in the department, and they would relay what they learned to the rest of the department.

In November 2017, ICUC met with police and religious leaders then said the department could improve by hiring more minority candidates and bilingual officers.

Those same things were suggested in Monday night’s meeting.

“We recommend you become bilingual, because we do live in a bilingual city,” said Bobbie Butts, a spokeswoman with ICUC.

Riverside Police Department Capt. Eric Charrett said that bilingual officers are good to have, and the department is always looking for the best hires, but it can’t control who does and doesn’t apply to become an officer.

Butts added that she wants to see police officers become viewed as guardians, and not warriors.

Diaz noted the department had taken steps to not discriminate based on immigration status, and hoped that would make undocumented immigrants less afraid in encounters with police.

“We have a policy about immigration status, and it’s that it doesn’t matter to us,” he said. “Whether pulled over and in a car, arrested, in jail or a witness, your immigration status doesn’t matter to us and we’ve tried to get the word out.”

Diaz echoed a sentiment from the November 2017 meeting in saying that his No. 1 goal is to earn and restore trust from the community.

While he committed last year to developing a policy that would clarify when the public could view footage from uniform-worn cameras, those in attendance on Monday still questioned how to obtain footage from those cameras.

Diaz said all footage is kept for a year no matter what, and is kept longer if arrests or prosecution take place.

The police chief also said he will remain open to any and all suggestions.

“I’ll be at the Riverside Police Department offices in two weeks to see if any changes have happened, or if there are any plans to change,” Butts said. “If not, then the community will have to regroup and figure out how to proceed.”

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