Springdale : Video aims to educate Hispanics on road rules
Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2007
SPRINGDALE — The Jones Center for Families has created a video in hopes of teaching Hispanics state traffic laws, while also assuring them that police aren’t making immigration arrests.
The 16-minute video is in Spanish and explains such things as drunken driving and public intoxication laws, the importance of having a valid Arkansas driver’s license and proper insurance, and the need for people to be honest with police if they’re involved in a traffic stop or accident.
The Jones Center funded the $ 15, 000 video, which took 10 months to complete. The Springdale Police Department and the Arkansas State Police assisted in the project.
The video is targeted at Hispanics, regardless of whether they are in the country legally.
“The greatest concern that many of the undocumented people in our community have, that is, those who did not enter the United States with legal documents, is that the police are going to deport them,” Springdale Detective Al Barrios says in the video. “The truth is, we don’t have the time or even the authority to arrest people for immigration violations.”
Officers in the video explain that only federal officials can make immigration arrests and that local and state police want to work with the Hispanic community.
But Barrios stressed in the video that people who have committed felonies or are already in jail can be investigated by federal officials and deported.
“We in the Police Department understand that a lot of people in our Latino community have had to buy false papers in order to work,” Barrios says in the video. “But if you come in contact with the police, please give them your real name and real date of birth.”
Ira Mehlman, media director with the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Los Angeles, said all law enforcement agencies have an obligation to make arrests if they know a person is in the country illegally.
“There are times when police should turn a blind eye to certain things, but they should never make a blanket statement they won’t make arrests,” Mehlman said.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a national group that supports stronger immigration policies.
Rogers Police Chief Steve Helms is working with the Jones Center to expand the video to include other city ordinances. He wasn’t at the premiere Wednesday. Helms hasn’t seen the video, a Rogers police spokesman said.
Rogers has applied for a Department of Homeland Security program that allows trained police officers to make immigration arrests.
If accepted into the program, trained Rogers police officers will be able to arrest illegal aliens they come in contact with through traffic stops or calls to service.
Rogers police said the video could be helpful to them, even as it says police have no interest in making immigration arrests.
“We would like to share it with the community,” Rogers police Lt. Mike Johnson said.
Springdale Police Chief Kathy O’Kelley allowed several of her officers to participate in the making of the video. The video is a way of reaching out to the Hispanic community, she said.
“This is the beginning, but we still have a lot we need to do,” O’Kelley said. O’Kelley has said in the past that she has no interest in her officers making immigration arrests out of concern it would further divide the community. The Jones Center plans to market the video to Spanishspeaking media and businesses with Spanish-speaking employees. Free copies also will be available at the Jones Center. “The information will only be good if we get it into the hands of the people who can get some use out of it,” said Kathyrn Birkhead, director of diversity with the Jones Center. The Jones Center soon will begin production of a video explaining various laws to the Marshallese community, Birkhead said. That video will be geared toward issues more specific to that community, she said. “We’ve got to do something to reach out to the community,” Birkhead said. “People end up in difficult situations that are not their own fault, but from not understanding the law.”
To contact this reporter: sfitzgerald@arkansasonline. com
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