Latino Community Development Agency
Meeting started at 3:15 pm
I. Welcome
Cynthia welcomed all the participants.
She announced that there would be only one meeting each month since two meetings
per month seemed too many for the busy participants. A handout outlining the
meeting dates for the rest of the year was provided (CBLC meetings calendar for 2002). Cynthia also asked if the phone calls to participants
reminding them of the meetings are helpful or do they find it distracting.
The participants said that they find the phone call reminders helpful. One
of the participants mentioned how helpful the Proyecto Cambio website
is. Cynthia asked Saleem to provide everyone of the web site address. Saleem
gave the web address to the attendees.
This was followed by introductions
of the CBLC meeting attendees.
II. Guest speaker Scott Helm
with OKC Police Department presented evidence-based domestic violence
investigation and prosecution.
Detective Scott
Helm gave out handouts to the participants. Handouts included:
Detective Scott Helm
introduced himself to the meeting attendees. Detective Helm has been a police
officer in OKC for 13 years, and has spent the past three years with the
Domestic Violence Unit. He mentioned that there is more that can be done
legally today to stop domestic violence then in the past.
He then introduced
Lieutenant Eddy Blosser who has been appointed to work in the OKC Police
Department Domestic Violence Unit.
Detective Scott Helm gave a
presentation according to the handout “Evidence Based Prosecution.”
Questions following
Detective Scott’s presentation:
Question: Do you have bilingual persons answering the
911 calls?
Detective Helm: We have some
bilingual staff and field officers. If they are not available, then we can use
a language line.
Comment: A lot of time
Hispanic callers will be told in English to hold on, and therefore they think
that nobody is responding to them and they hang up.
Comment: Some times they ask
little children to call 911 and 911 doesn’t listen to the children.
Detective Helm: The 911 is
becoming much better at handling calls from the children. He gave examples
where the calls from the children have been received by 911 and responded to by
the police. The laws now allow domestic violence prosecution based on
children’s testimony therefore their calls are important.
Cynthia: What would it take
to take immediate action such as providing a recording in Spanish asking the callers
to hold on.
Detective Helm: That is a
very good idea. That is something that can be very useful.
Cynthia: We can help you
with working on a recording that tells the Hispanic callers to hold on and not
hang up.
Question: Are there any
federal requirements to provide people help with language?
Jim: An entity that uses
federal funds has conditions attached to it. Complaints can be filed if you
have been denied your right with Civil Rights Department at the Department of
Justice. They will help you with procedures of filing a complaint. The Civil
Rights Division will follow up with an inquiry. The entity will be asked to
discuss the problem/complaint, and until it responds, its federal funding can
be suspended. Among special categories of population include American Indians
and pregnant women. The process doesn’t require filling out long forms, &
the Civil Rights Division will try to mediate a reasonable common sense
solution to the problem.
Detective Helm: The office
phone number for the Oklahoma City Police Department for Domestic Violence is 297 1671. Detective Helm then discussed
the classes mentioned in the third hand out above. (ORCPI Training Schedule).
Question: There are some
people who have called when in crisis situation. When the police arrived, the
language barrier still exists. What will happen in this situation?
Detective Helm: The standard
procedure is to see if there is an immediate interpreter. This includes 1) anyone in the immediate area such as
immediate family member or a neighbor; 2) calling a bilingual police officer;
3) using a language line.
Comment: Involving a family
member or a neighbor may be difficult since they might be afraid of the
perpetrator.
Comment: Oklahoma is way
behind in this area. I use to translate way back in 1976. There is a need to do
something fast due to the increasing population here. They should try to get
somebody who can speak the language to translate for them.
Detective Helm: We have more
people now who are bilingual. We translate for victims as well. We are
improving although slowly but steadily.
III. Update on Proyecto
Cambio
Cynthia informed the
participants about key informant and focus group interviews. Twenty four key
informant interviews were conducted. The focus groups involved 73 individuals
(3 adult male groups, 2 adult female groups, 1 elderly male group, 1 elderly
female group, 1 male youth group, and 2 female youth groups). A lot of
information has been generated and will be analyzed by the University of Oklahoma.
Plan to get the information by September or even by the end of August. There seems is discrimination at the
workplace. The men who are from Mexico feel very stressed from workplace when
they come home, and this shows the need for acculturation. A lot of the men voluntarily want to help
make a change. Proyecto Cambio is getting ready to do community needs
assessment by conducting interviews of direct and indirect service providers .
Leah: We have identified 50
service providers and we are working on more.
Cynthia: This will be going
on for the next month and a half.
IV. Dates for upcoming CBLC meetings.
Cynthia: The next CBLC meeting would be held on July
18/2002 (Thursday). Hopefully we would be able to have far more comprehensive
talks of what needs to be done.
Comment: comments were made
about elderly abuse in the penitentiary and the need to address such abuse.
V. Close meeting 4:00 pm
Post meeting note:
Marcia Smith, the Executive
Director of Oklahoma State Coalition Against Domestic Violence called and asked
Cynthia if Proyecto Cambio will provide a tape recorded message for the
State of Oklahoma domestic violence hotline so a number of Spanish speaking
callers would not hang up after they call for help. Cynthia agreed to provided
assistance with the tape recorded message.