Latino Wichitans respond to remark by police chief finalist

Wichita police chief finalist Terri Moses offended some Latino Wichitans with a comment she made at a public forum.

Answering a question about building trust between the Latino community and the police, Moses said, “It’s a difficult community to interact with.”

Moses apologized during the forum Monday night right after making the remark.

“I don’t want to offend anybody,” she said Tuesday afternoon.

She said she was interrupted while she was trying to give context to the remark.

Still, some Latinos said publicly and privately that they remained upset over her comment at a forum attended by about 250 people at Century II Convention Hall.

The forum was publicized as an opportunity for the public to hear both candidates field questions separately. Moses, 56, is executive director of safety services for the Wichita school district and a former Wichita deputy police chief. The other finalist is Joel Fitzgerald, 44, police chief in Allentown, Pa. The forum moderator, City Manager Robert Layton, has said he hopes to pick a chief early this month.

The remark came near the end of the forum as Guadalupe Magdaleno, an organizer with Sunflower Community Action, told Moses that the Latino community doesn’t have faith in police and is scared of officers, and asked Moses: “If you were appointed to the position, what would you do to build the trust between the Latino community and the police?”

Moses began her answer by saying, “We’ve got to get out and communicate. We’ve got to work with your community.” She said that as a cop, she worked with a board dealing with racial profiling and other issues and met with several people in the Latino community.

“It’s a difficult community to interact with,” Moses said from the Convention Hall stage. Hoots of disapproval immediately followed, interrupting Moses as she tried to complete her response.

“I probably said that wrong, and I apologize,” she said during the forum. “It’s a difficult community to break into because of that fear that you’ve just talked about.”

She recalled a meeting police set up at Evergreen Library to talk about immigration issues. Only five people showed up, and police heard that it was because of the law enforcement presence at the meeting, she said during the forum.

“So we have to break down those barriers, where people are free to talk to law enforcement. … When I say it’s difficult, it is. Let’s be honest. It’s difficult. We need to work harder to build those relationships. We need to work harder so people aren’t afraid to talk to law enforcement,” Moses said.

Magdaleno, the woman who asked the question, said Tuesday that she is an immigrant from Mexico, a grandmother, and a U.S. citizen who has lived in Wichita for more than 20 years. “So I consider myself a Kansan now,” Magdaleno said.

When she heard that her community was difficult to interact with, she said, “I stopped listening.

“I just couldn’t believe that she addressed … my entire community as difficult to work with. … I took it personally because I am Latino, my family is Latino.”

As for Moses’ apology, Magdaleno said, “You know, to be fair, if she had mentioned some solutions, suggestions or ideas … if she would have said something constructive toward reaching out to my community and working to rebuild the trust, I would have been more apt to accept the apology.”

Moses said that the interruptions from the audience hurt the communication.

“And I’m not making any excuses, absolutely not,” she said Tuesday. “But I will say the same thing – I believe firmly that we need to work with that community, all communities.

“I was trying to agree with the problem she’s stating. To a certain extent, we’re saying the same thing.”

There is a need for “good, open conversation,” she said Tuesday. A police chief needs to be “honest with the community, and if we don’t acknowledge there’s issues between the police department and the community, you know, we’re not going to be successful.”

Abel Perez, 71, former director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Wichita and a retired supervisor with the Kansas Department of Commerce, said Moses should have been more prepared to answer a question about the Latino community.

As for her remark, he said, “just to say that, it can hurt anybody … and there are going to be people who are going to take it the wrong way.

“Yes, I find it offensive.”

Moses could have explained what the barriers are and what she would do to help remove them, Perez said.

Layton, the city manager whose job it is to pick between Moses and Fitzgerald, said Tuesday evening that he couldn’t comment about any specific aspect of the forum, but added: “I’m looking at everything” both candidates said – along with a multitude of other perspectives of the finalists.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Latino Wichitans respond to remark by police chief finalist."