On Thursday morning August 1, 2013, the Madison Police Department invited leaders from the Madison and Dane County Latino community to a forum at the South District. Over the past three years, the MPD has annually invited specific individuals who have been active in the Latino community, or involved in delivering services to the Latino community, to discuss concerns or challenges confronting the Latino community. MPD Detective Gloria Reyes, who also is the current Board or Directors President for Centro Hispano, Inc., faciliated the meeting along with South District Captain Joe Balles.
Those in attendance were briefed on the Madison Police Department's overall community engagement efforts taking place in 2013. They also recieved a presentation from Sergeant Lauri Schwartz on the MPD's Amigos en Azul program (Friends in Blue), and the upcoming Latino Youth Academy to be held on August 12-14th. In the second half of the meeting, invited guests were asked to identify public safety and quality of life issues currently impacting Latinos in both Madison and Dane County. They were also asked to provide ideas or suggestions as to how the Madison Police Department might improve service to the Latino community.
The Madison Police Department would like to thank all of those listed below for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend this annual forum.
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Pictured above: Detective Gloria Reyes, Maya Quintanilla, Jacqueline Suarez, Lilliam Post, Oscar Mireles, Veronica Lazo, Nancy Saiz, Gladis Benavides, Anita Hererra, Kiley Rose, Jesse Ramirez, Sergeant Lauri Schwartz.