Gwinnett County city focusing on hiring more Hispanic police officers

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — As police departments everywhere struggle to recruit new officers, a city in Gwinnett County is putting a focus on the Hispanic community.

Channel 2′s Matt Johnson was in Lilburn on Tuesday, where the city’s police chief, Bruce Hedley, says he wants to triple the number of bilingual officers.

He says recruiting continues to be an issue in Lilburn, like in many other police departments.

He says reaching out to the Hispanic community and also letting his officers help recruit is critical.

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Hedley says his department like so many in the metro is struggling to attract new officers - even after pay increases.

Lilburn police officers do more than protect and serve while on patrol these days– they also recruit.

“Maybe on a police call of some sort, and they strike up a conversation. We’ve never done that before,” Hedley said. “Then we went to 45 (officers). And now we’re at 50. and we’re at over 50 here, but I’m not still not seeing applications.”

He says he’s told his officers to ask people who impress them if they’d like to join the department.

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It’s part of a more aggressive approach to recruiting to add to the 33 sworn officers on staff now.

Hedley says that a growing Hispanic population in the city also means a bigger push toward recruiting in the community.

“We have three bilingual officers in the department,” Hedley said. “I’d love to have 10.”

He says the number one concern his bilingual officers get is about how to protect students from gun violence.

“They’re very, very concerned, and they’ve let us know that. So I need to be able to effectively communicate back,” Hedley said.

He says he and his team have upped the number of Spanish-speaking radio appearances they do to connect and recruit.

“That’s the message regardless of where you’re from, or who you are... everybody feels good when you help someone,” Hedley said.

The chief says that he and his team are planning more appearances with the Hispanic community to address their number one concern after Uvalde, Texas: school shootings.

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