Sheriff\u2019s Hispanic Advisory Council<\/a> at its annual gala.<\/p>\nGarcia said law enforcement was his passion before he ever put on a badge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of been the training and helping people in their time of crisis,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
Garcia began his career with the sheriff\u2019s office as a patrol officer before becoming a homicide detective. He said the work often places deputies and detectives alongside families during difficult moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deal with people in kind of their worst times and their worst moments, so it is kind of rewarding when we\u2019re able to help the families out, bring justice to them,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s office says its workforce is more than 60% diverse.<\/p>\n
Garcia said his background and ability to speak Spanish helps him connect with members of the Hispanic community during investigations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to speak Spanish or being able to share the cultures of the community we assist, I think, brings a sense of comfortability with them,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIt helps them open up and it helps them trust us to help in these cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sheriff\u2019s Hispanic Advisory Council has worked for more than 40 years to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the Hispanic community.<\/p>\n
Nelcy Baltz, a member at-large of the Sheriff\u2019s Hispanic Advisory Council, said the annual gala recognizes Hispanics making a difference while giving the community a stronger voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that feeling of being part of the community and that my voice has validity, that I can be that unifier in the community,\u201d Baltz said.<\/p>\n
Garcia said the council has helped raise awareness about the Sheriff\u2019s Office and the resources it provides.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve worked to kind of bridge that gap between law enforcement and the community,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
Garcia said wearing the badge while staying connected to his roots is also a way to show others what is possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing part of the Hispanic community and wearing the badge as a law enforcement officer motivates me and gives me the ability to also build the trust with the community,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
He said he hopes that representation inspires another generation of Hispanics to consider careers in law enforcement.<\/p>\n
The Sheriff\u2019s Hispanic Advisory Council\u2019s work also extends to students. During this year\u2019s gala, several students attending USF and Hillsborough College received scholarships. The council also works with community partners to provide laptops to local high school students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office is highlighting Hispanic leaders during Hispanic Heritage Month as it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3076,1011,1013,274,1548,276,1925,771,1190,2200,6076,115,135,137,136,278,2032,835],"class_list":["post-418511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-good-news","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-latest-human-interest-stories","tag-app-top-stories","tag-good-news","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-hispanic-heritage","tag-hispanic-month","tag-human-interest","tag-instagram-bn9","tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-trending-topics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}