While it is satisfying to receive national recognition for a growing effort to better relationships between Tulsa’s Hispanic population, the Tulsa Police Department and Tulsans in general, TPD Officer Jesse Guardiola is more concerned with minimizing what he calls “the perfect storm” of a growing Hispanic gang problem and territory wars over the next five years.

Guardiola who serves as Hispanic Outreach Relations Officer, a Career Development Instructor and Recruiter, originated an “emergency Spanish” language program for TPD officers.

That is part of the reason the department’s outreach program was recently selected out of 350 police departments nationwide for inclusion in national police policy.

Meanwhile, Guardiola and his supervisor Sgt. Mark Sherwood are busy participating in any community gathering or neighborhood meeting they can find to help educate citizens on the Hispanic community and culture in Tulsa and to reach out to Hispanic citizens themselves. They also work to better the understanding of TPD officers, as there are currently only about 20 Hispanic officers on the force and only 25 officers who are fluent in Spanish.

“A perfect storm of increased gang activity is brewing as the most vulnerable populations of potential gang members — the numbers Hispanic youth between the ages of 13 and 16 — are a fast-growing demographic,” Guardiola said. “These young people are vulnerable because too often their first generation immigrant parents do not know how to point them in the direction of activities that could be positive influences like choir, sports, band, etc. These are the things that help keep kids busy and on a good track in life. Because their parents simply don’t know how to give them that information and don’t understand the frame of reference, these kids too often don’t do well in school and drop out. Without succeeding in school they end up going into the same low paying jobs their parents do – roofing, lawn care, cleaning. This lack of healthy pursuits and academic support can result in being disenfranchised and susceptible to gang membership. These kids get snatched up into gangs in the vulnerable years of 5th to 8th grade. These next five years will be hugely important.”

Community members can help by volunteering to mentor Hispanic youth and by understanding that the problem isn’t just an East Tulsa issue, he said. If Hispanic neighbors are afraid to call the police then they won’t — even when it’s a house being robbed right next door to them.

Guardiola is the son of Mexican immigrant parents who migrated in the 1960s to New Mexico. He was recruited by the TPD and attended the 1997 academy during a time when the growth of Hispanic residents in Tulsa was becoming very obvious.

In recent years he has developed a multi-faceted approach to the issue of Hispanic relations in Tulsa.

The TPD’s Hispanic Outreach program includes community surveys so that citizens can share commendations and complaints as well as an education factor for both the department and the community and it includes language training for officers and Spanish-language interpretations of TPD forms.

“A large part of what I am doing is serving as liaison and on the Mayor’s Hispanic Affairs Commission,” he said. “I attend anything I can such as the Tulsa Area Hispanic Resource Center and any Hispanic community meetings such as those at churches and school-parent meetings. I act as advisor to Tulsa Public Schools and Union Schools on the issues. Basically, anytime I have an opportunity to get in front of Hispanic youth they start by fearing me but end by asking questions and shaking my hand.”

Guardiola utilizes the media with weekly radio and television spots on local Spanish-speaking radio and television and he participates in Spanish Crimestopper and Public Service Announcements. The Outreach Program ensures there is a Spanish interpreter available when needed as well as a Spanish helpline – answered usually by Guardiola himself – at 918-591-4506.

Partnering with local resources like Family & Children’s Services and Youth Services of Tulsa is also important, he said. The idea is to educate people about Spanish culture so they understand why so many immigrants come to the U.S.

“The majority of the Hispanic community want to live in peace with no problems,” he said. “The place an emphasis on family, faith and entrepreneurship. To understand why they come here, think about the Rio Grande River. On one side you have a third world country where they are lucky if they make $8 per day. Just on the other side of the river they know they can find work making $8 an hour. It is a no-brainer for them. Yes, they are breaking laws. But if your family is starving, you don’t feel like you have a choice. Education, health care and job opportunities — it is all better here.”

The Word “Hispanic” is not exactly accurate but it is generic and not likely to offend, he said. It came to be used during the administration of President Ronald Regan in the 1980s as an alternative to listing two-dozen countries of origin on government forms. The term “Chicano” is used on the West Coast while “Latino” is more of an East Coast term. If you don’t know the country of origin of the person it is neutral and polite to use “Hispanic.”

All of this outreach work has drawn national attention. The TPD has been selected from a nationwide search to share the department’s Hispanic Outreach Program. The Vera Institute of Justice, funded by a Department of Justice grant, selected Tulsa, out of 350 police departments nationwide, as one of 10 departments to present on promising police-immigrant relations practices. Sherwood and Guardiola presented the program on June 6 in New York City. Tulsa’s program is becoming part of a national model to help combat the large under-reporting of crime in the Hispanic community as well as educating local law enforcement on the immigrant culture and what Guardiola calls “Survival Street Spanish” with important phrases like “do you have a weapon.”

Despite the challenges, Guardiola is cautiously optimistic and said “You can be part of solution- anyone, everyone can. By mentoring and introducing Hispanic youth to the U.S. way of life. This is crucial to minimize the growth of gangs. Hispanic kids, feeling lost — often not getting direction at home, giving them purpose, resources, homework help, ideas for careers — all of this will go a long way to prevent the coming perfect storm.”