Latinos worry about being targeted for crime

Community advocates ask police to do more to increase trust

And on Feb. 16, a 22-year-old Wheaton man was found stabbed to death in the hallway of an Aspen Hill apartment building. Three men have been arrested in that death, an apparent robbery gone bad, police reported in charging documents.

The homicides were discussed by police and immigrant advocates on Thursday during Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger’s regular monthly meeting with his Latino Liaison Committee.

‘‘It’s starting really to take a toll on the community,” said Grace Rivera-Oven, an activist in the Latino community and host of Montgomery County Cable’s Spanish-language news show. ‘‘It’s becoming such a trend. We cannot let that happen in our county.”

She believes many people are prone to think that because some immigrants are in this country illegally, ‘‘that they’re disposable, like disposable plates or disposable wipes, and because of their [immigration] status, that they seem less human.”

David Baker, the county police department’s hate crimes coordinator, said immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants, are ideal for criminals.

‘‘There’s no better target to hit,” he said. ‘‘There’s cash in their pocket, they’re out at all hours of the night, they’re oftentimes alone, sometimes they’ve been drinking and they [attackers] know they’re not going to call the police.”

He added, ‘‘I guarantee you that in certain parts of the county, unreported robberies are out of control.”

Advocates at the meeting called for police to step up their efforts to reach out to the Latino community, which has become increasingly distrustful of officers.

Manger has been trying to balance enforcing the law with the reality that immigrant mistrust and reluctance to report crimes has swelled.

Advocates at last week’s meeting said the problem has gotten so bad that many immigrant residents refuse to attend community meetings, like school meetings, if they know police will be there. Accordingly, police need to enhance and rethink their outreach in immigrant communities, even if it means going door-to-door in sensitive areas to try and win trust.

‘‘We do an unbelievable job with the enforcement, but we do miss a lot of the prevention,” Officer Luis Hurtado, a Latino outreach specialist with county police, said in an interview.

On average, Hurtado gives presentations at three or four community forums a week to engage the Latino community, including at homeowners associations, ESOL classes and PTAs. He recently held a session on crime prevention at Einstein High School that drew some 300 immigrants. But there needs to more outreach, and in different ways, he said.

‘‘That’s what we are missing big time. Especially now in times of budget constraints, you could do much, much, much more with prevention,” he said.

For a year, Manger said he has been especially worried by the rising trend in ‘‘pack robberies,” those committed by a group of suspects, he said. He believes that Latinos have often been the victims of this growing crime trend and he is trying to pin down data on how many of the victims have been in the country illegally.

Aureliano Evelio Miranda-Fuentes, the Gaithersburg man killed on Feb. 17, was attacked near Gaithersburg High School by three black males in their 20s or 30s, police said.

Police have release a composite of one of the suspects in the attack. Anyone with information is asked to call 240-773-5070.