Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Ana Thompson’s father learned to fear the government and police while growing up in El Salvador, she said Wednesday while attending a Hispanic Citizens Police Academy session held by Metro Police.
That fear remained after immigrating to America, she said.
Thompson brought her father to the academy in hopes he’d see that police in Las Vegas are different from those he encountered in his native country.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill opened the academy on Wednesday saying Metro learned early on that there needed to be an academy specifically for the Hispanic community.
“We recognized that we needed to build a relationship with the Hispanic Community,” McMahill said. “Because relationships make the trust. We have to recognize that we are all human beings first. Your police department wants to reduce victimization in your communities.”
The citizens academy is a volunteer program aimed at educating members of the public who are interested in first-hand information about how the department operates.
The department has been holding the academies for 16 years, said Rachel Skidmore, Metro Director of the office of community engagement. She said 1,070 graduates have completed the biannual academy.
The group that entered the program Wednesday will graduate in November at a ceremony attended by the Sheriff.
Participants learn 20 different topics, including law enforcement technologies and training techniques.
“Seeing from the inside out, what we see in law enforcement every day will change you,” Skidmore told a crowded room at the office of the Las Vegas Consulate of El Salvador.
Metro Police also recently created a Hispanic alliance that will officially kick off in upcoming months, Skidmore said. She said the alliance will be made up of community members such as elected officials and business owners.
“I want you to know we hear that voice from the community,” Skidmore said.
Skidmore also thanked the crowd for taking time away from their families to share it with Metro Police.
Thompson said she also is attending the academy to learn more about the proper way to engage with police and laws she needs to know as a citizen.
She grew up in El Salvador as well but during a different time than her father did, she said. She doesn’t have the same fear.
Yet, America has different laws from El Salvador, she said.
“I want to know more about the right and good ways to do something and the wrong ways to do it,” Thompson said.
