Can illegal immigrants call for emergency services, or will they get deported? How can the police better reach out to minority communities? What should you do if you see an officer doing something inappropriate?
These questions and many more were posed to Chief Martin Flatley last night during Southold Anti-Bias Task Force’s “Synergy” night.
About 25 people including community members, law enforcement officers, town officials and members of anti-bias task forces from across the East End came out to the Southold Recreation Center last night to share pizza and frank conversation about diversity in Southold and improving the relationship between the police department and minority communities.
Joining Flatley was Officer Alex Chenche to help answer questions, particularly those dealing with the Hispanic community in Southold. Chenche, who lived in Ecuador until the age of 17, is currently the only Hispanic member of the Southold Police Department.
“It’s a great opportunity because I’m able to approach people who are afraid of us,” Chenche said.
He talked about the MS-13 gang problems that plagued Southold town in 2014, and how members of the community were afraid to come forward and talk to police.
“We were told by someone that the people we were interviewing were from El Salvador, where the police are corrupt and no one speaks to them,” Flatley said. “If that’s the way they’ve lived their whole lives before they came to this community, how can we expect them not to be the same way with us? We have to earn their trust.”
“I’ve come to meet a lot of people who are afraid to talk, but when you approach them in their native language, they open up and begin to feel more comfortable,” Chenche said.
After the law enforcement officers introduced themselves to the room, James Banks, chair of the Southampton Anti-Bias Task Force and the leader of the night’s discussion, opened the floor to questions from the community.
LeRoy Heyliger of Mattituck stood to share an incident between a police officer and his grandson in a doctor’s office that happened to him recently.
“We were sitting there, I was reading a newspaper and he’s listening to music with ear buds, you know how kids are,” Heyliger said, addressing Flatley. “One of your officers walks out from an appointment in this busy doctor’s office, in uniform. And he sees my grandson and he walks over to him and asks him if he knows anything about ’that incident at the school.’After he left, I asked my grandson, ‘What was that about, why was he asking you those questions?’”
Heyliger’s grandson explained that there was a rumor going around that two black kids were in a fight at Mattituck High School, and the officer thought he might know something about it.
“It’s been eating on me that this incident took place,” Heyliger said. “Why would he ask my grandson about that? Is that normal protocol, for one of your uniformed officers to question a young black man in a crowded doctor’s office about something like that?”
Photo: Courtney Blasl
“It’s not protocol to interview anyone in a situation like that,” Flatley said. “I don’t know the particulars, I’m short on information, but something like that should take place not in front of other people and for a good reason. I will look further into it.”
Susan Dingle, a member of the Southold Anti-Bias Task Force, followed up with another question. How does one report an incident like this? she asked.
“Is there a procedure for complaint, such and such happened at such and such a time and an officer did this,” Dingle said. “What is the protocol there?”
“I would hope that anybody from the community would ask questions,” Flatley said. “Either at the time of the incident or later to me. I keep an open line of communication. My door is open to talk about any topic.”
One idea that came up was for there to be more community outreach in places where minorities feel comfortable. Instead of having a conversation in a police station, why not reach out in a safe space?
Sonia Spar, co-chair of the Southold task force suggested getting officers to visit local houses of worship to make connections with community members.
Another option would be a reporting system like the one the Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force has on their website, but even that is not ideal. Noreen LeCann, vice-chair of the Riverhead task force, expressed her frustration that even with the opportunity available, few people ever reach out.
“We sit and we wait. We have an online form, a hotline,” she said. “We sit and wait. We need to get out in the community and meet with people, not wait for people.”
Cynthia Smith’s complaint was about reports that are given that seem to go nowhere. “There are areas in the community that are known drug-dealing areas, and you call and report them and nothing happens.”
Flatley explained that drug arrests are particularly difficult to pin down, but that doesn’t make the complaints any less important to the department. “We need you to keep reporting these things when you see them.”
“In recent history, law enforcement has been clear that not only are they there to serve us, but that we need to serve them in helping them with their crime fighting aspirations,” Banks had said minutes earlier. “That is a definite statement of community when we help each other, when we can serve each other.”
Smith agreed with Flatley. “It’s about communication. This is the beginning.”
Greenport/Southold School District Superintendent David Gamberg shared his point of view as a former teacher in a jail facility. He emphasized the importance of a long-term approach.
“I look at these types of challenges much in the way a cardiologist might look at heart disease. You don’t provide a pill once a year and say ‘you’ll be fine, take this one time, come back next year and you’ll be okay.
“It’s a regimen. And it doesn’t have to be fancy. Good diet, exercise. In this case, relationship-building. Fundamental, basic things.”
Spar said the group would be planning more events like the “Synergy” night in the near future. A plan for a summer picnic meet-up between the East End task forces is in the works, she said.
