The Peoria Police Department has some challenges to overcome when it comes to building trust within the Hispanic community, particularly those who are relatively new to Peoria.
That’s one of the reasons the department appointed Adrian Aguilar to its resident officer program. Aguilar, a former Marine, was born in Mexico and says he understands why Latino residents may be reluctant to call police to report a crime or ask for help.
“When you look at the police brutality and the incidents that happen in Mexico, where police is not trusted whatsoever, and a lot of the Latin countries, not just Mexico, initially they don’t have that trust that American citizens are born into it, where they figure the police is there to help at all times,” Aguilar said.
He says on top of that, there’s the language barrier, and for some, a fear of being deported. But Aguilar says his responsibility to the West Bluff is just to keep his neighbors safe.
“We’re not showing up as the federal government-deport-people our main concern is to provide help, especially to victims of crime,” Aguilar said.
Police records show burglaries and thefts in the West Bluff neighborhood have declined since the first Armstrong resident officer took the beat in 2013. The ultimate goal is for crime to be eliminated, but Aguilar says establishing trust within the Latino community is a duty that’s still growing.
Aguilar’s residence is 520 W. Armstrong Avenue. His predecessor, Sgt. Ryan Winkle, was the first resident officer to take a neighborhood-post and was recently promoted.
Aguilar says his first order of business is meeting his neighbors one at a time. The city is in the process of purchasing an additional home for the resident officer program in the Central Bluff neighborhood. It’s about a mile north of Aguilar’s residence.