REGIONAL—Agustin Martinez was 4 years old when he came with his family to N’West Iowa from Aguascalientes, Mexico. A native Spanish speaker, he learned English when he started kindergarten.
As a young boy in school, Martinez could never have imagined that one day he would become an officer in uniform.
“It always seemed like a big deal to be in law enforcement — like you would need a lot of schooling,” Martinez said.
The Sioux Center High School graduate first studied automotive technology at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, but he found his way into other lines of work after he moved back to Sioux Center in 2013 with his wife, Elle, who grew up in Rock Valley. They have three children, who are between the ages of 5 and 14.
New Sioux County deputy Agustin Martinez says it is a “game-changer” to be able to communicate in the native language of citizens.
Over the years, Martinez worked at Kooima Company in Rock Valley, then became a draftsman at Interstates in Sioux Center. They were good jobs, and they provided for his family, but he longed to do something more meaningful.
He began volunteering as a firefighter for the Sioux Center Fire Department and eventually, Martinez, 31, realized that joining the police force was within his reach. He had his high school diploma, he was an upstanding member of the community, and — importantly — he was bilingual.
As increasing numbers of N’West Iowa residents speak Spanish as a first language, the ability to speak both Spanish and English is an asset for law enforcement officials.
The only hurdle for Martinez? He would need to become a U.S. citizen.
He joined the Iowa National Guard and completed his basic training, which simplified and expedited a process that for many noncitizens seeking U.S. citizenship is long, burdensome and costly — if it is within reach.
“For me, it wasn’t hard,” Martinez said. “When I joined the military, they had their own process.”
He took the citizenship tests required of all applicants, and once he graduated from basic training, Martinez was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.
Shortly thereafter, in 2020, a position opened in the Sioux Center Police Department. Being bilingual was one of the qualities that made Martinez an attractive candidate, and he was hired. Last month, he earned a promotion as he was sworn in a deputy for the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office.
As a bilingual deputy, Martinez can communicate with community members who are not fluent in English, or who are more comfortable communicating in Spanish. In high-stress situations, that is a crucial skill.
“It’s a game-changer, honestly,” Martinez said.
Still, his default is always English. On a routine traffic stop, for example, he begins with the usual: “License, registration and insurance?”
“Then you start to see them struggle a little bit,” Martinez said. “And I’ll say, ‘Is Spanish better?’ And I’ll see their eyes just open up, like, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’”
Alex Bakker and Agustin Martinez, Sioux Center police officers at the time, interact with kids near inflatables in Sioux Center’s Central Park during a community event Sunday, Aug. 14.
Walking into situations that are more tense or complicated — answering calls involving domestic disputes, for example — an officer’s ability to shift into Spanish can be especially helpful, Martinez said.
Building trust
Martinez often receives calls from other departments and law enforcement agencies in the region requesting his assistance when language barriers cause difficulties.
“It is not uncommon for me to get a call from Rock Valley, Orange City, the state patrol, asking, ‘Can you help me out?’” Martinez said.
Lyon County sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep, who has been employed with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office for 37 years, said changing demographics in the region mean bilingual officers are poised to fill a growing need. His department has no bilingual officers but has nevertheless developed strategies for overcoming language barriers when officers encounter them.
“That’s happening more and more,” Vander Stoep said. “My officers do understand a little bit of the language, but most of the time we get on the phone and get an interpreter on the line to help us make that communication.”
Patrol officer Adam Bakker, of the Sioux Center Police Department, hands a sticker to 14-year-old Jose Lazaro of Sioux Center at the Night to Unite/Noche de Unidad event held in Central Park on Sunday, August 14. Bakker spoke to Lazaro in Spanish after he indicated he only spoke a small amount of English.
He said his deputies also have been able to use apps like Google Translate on their cellphones to communicate about simple matters. However, in higher-stakes situations, such as when an arrest is made, the department makes sure an interpreter is on hand to facilitate clear communication.
“We want to make sure they are understanding us, and we are understanding them,” Vander Stoep said.
The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office also has found ways to employ technology in the face of language barriers. The department recently started outsourcing its interpreting needs to LanguageLine Solutions, a paid-for service that allows officers and dispatchers to connect with a remote interpreter who provides services in real time.
“It can be anything from vehicle lockouts to animal calls to domestics or ambulance calls,” said dispatcher Courtney McKee, explaining that before LanguageLine, the sheriff’s office often relied on help from the county’s Spanish-speaking jailers, who weren’t always on shift when there was need for an interpreter.
In many cases, Spanish-speakers involved in a police encounter do speak some English, according to Martinez, but they may feel intimidated. To risk speaking English is to risk being misunderstood.
Recently, Martinez received a call for assistance from the Iowa State Patrol. An officer had pulled over a motorist near Million Dollar Corner, the commuter parking lot south of Sioux Center and west of Orange City.
“She would not say a word to the state patrol officer,” Martinez said.
Martinez responded to the call, and sensing the woman was simply fearful — uncertain about what to say or how to communicate — he began speaking to her in Spanish.
“When we can say, ‘Hey, we’re here to help,’ it opens up a barrier,” Martinez said. “When you can reassure someone, that opens up a whole world with them.”
Community members of all ages turned out for the Noche de Unidad event in Sioux Center’s Central Park on Aug. 14.
Noche de Unidad
Under any circumstances, establishing relationships of trust between law enforcement officials and the communities they serve can be difficult. However, trust-building efforts have only grown more challenging in the era following the death of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. In recent years, escalating racial tensions have led to turmoil in cities across the nation, and high-profile incidents of police brutality have put policing in the national spotlight.
In Sioux County, one effort to build trust between community members and law enforcement officials and other emergency responders recently took place in Sioux Center.
Children run through a parking lot adjacent to Sioux Center’s Central Park during the Noche de Unidad event on Aug. 14.
The annual event, which this year was renamed Night to Unite/Noche de Unidad, was held on Aug. 14 in Central Park. Organized by the Center for Service, Assistance & Advocacy, or CASA of Sioux County, in partnership with the city of Sioux Center, the event provided community members an opportunity to come out and meet the law enforcement officers and emergency responders who serve their community every day.
That evening in the park, children swarmed a colorful inflatable slide and scrambled into the nearby bouncy house. Officers milled about in uniform, laughing and talking with kids and other community members and handing out stickers.
When Alex Bakker, another recently hired deputy with the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office and a native English speaker, stopped to talk to 14-year-old Jose Lazaro of Sioux Center, Lazaro smiled shyly and looked down, saying he spoke only a little English.
“Poquito,” he said. “A little.”
Bakker began a conversation with Lazaro in Spanish, and as they spoke, Lazaro started smiling and asking questions.
Other park visitors made their way to a parking lot adjacent to the playground, where a fire truck was flashing its lights and an ambulance and police car were parked — all available for mini tours conducted by police officers and other members of Sioux Center’s emergency response team.
Sioux County deputy Alex Bakker hands out stickers in Sioux Center’s Central Park during the Aug. 14 Noche de Unidad Event while city manager Scott Wynja looks on.
Alex Vasquez, director of diversity initiatives at Dordt University in Sioux Center, was one of three volunteers on hand as an interpreter at the event. Originally from Columbia, Vasquez said events like Noche de Unidad are one step toward overcoming the fear or mistrust that can sometimes attend interactions with law enforcement officers, especially due to language or cultural barriers.
“Growing up, I feel like I had a fear of the police. That’s what I was taught,” Vasquez said. Now he knows many of the local officers by name.
“Seeing a familiar face goes a long way,” Vasquez said. “I just saw a little girl jump into a police officer’s car and get a sticker, and she’s just super excited and super happy. You don’t see that every day.”
Tensions
While urban settings dominate national news coverage, in smaller rural communities, racial and cultural tensions are present, too. Officers like Martinez are positioned to help build trust across those barriers, which sometimes include language. That happens during a police call or traffic stop, Martinez said, but the police department also is there to meet other needs in the community.
“I’ve had people come in and say, ‘I don’t know how to apply for a Social Security card,’” Martinez said. “So, I’ve called the Social Security Administration and made appointments for them. I tell people, ‘If you need something, we’re not just here to get you in trouble. We’re here to help.’”
Martinez also makes a point of having casual conversations with residents when he’s on patrol, including newcomers from countries in Latin America. Those newcomers, Martinez is careful to point out, represent a plurality of cultures, not just one.
“The best way to learn the culture is to actually go out and talk to people, and talk to them on a friendly basis,” he said.
Bakker, who grew up in Sioux Center, said his ability to speak Spanish is useful during interactions with residents whose primary language is not English, whether those encounters are casual or the stakes are high. However, basic fluency alone is not enough.
Bakker took Spanish classes in high school and at Northwestern College in Orange City. Still, it may be that his most useful language class has been an informal one — learning from fellow officer Martinez as they share experiences on patrol.
“I’ve learned a ton from him,” Bakker said.
Knowing that “seguir” is a verb that means “to follow” is one thing, he said, but understanding the nuances of slang, or figures of speech in an unfamiliar tongue, is another.
“Understanding that is actually more important, I think,” Bakker said.
Martinez, too, said formal education and training is one part of effective policing, whether it’s language classes or racial bias training. However, none of that is sufficient to forge the relationships between police officers and members of the community that are necessary for a community to thrive.
That takes time — an accumulation of positive interactions between law enforcement officers and community members that eventually, hopefully, gives way to mutual respect and trust. Some of that work, in N’West Iowa, is simply overcoming the misperceptions about the police that many residents bring with them from their places of origin.
“People come from different countries,” Martinez said. “And a lot of the time, in their countries, the police are not there to help.”
During the Noche de Unidad event, Martinez said he saw some of that distrust dissolve.
“It was so cool. We had a couple people walk up to us and say, ‘Hey, we’re from Venezuela. Can we get a picture with you guys?’” Martinez said.
The officers were happy to oblige them.
“After we took the picture, they said, ‘You have no idea what it’s like. We’re from Venezuela — we’re scared of the police. We would never ask them to take a picture. Thank you for doing this,’” Martinez said.
Six-year-old Athena Bahena sits on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance and learns about emergency medical equipment from a member of the Sioux Center ambulance team while her father, Agustin Bahena, and brother, 3-year-old Apollo, stand outside.
BILINGUAL CITY EMPLOYEES:
Ofelia Gonzalez
Ofelia Gonzalez, who recently was hired by the city of Sioux Center as bilingual customer service representative and utility office assistant, is the first bilingual hire in the city office.
“There are more people coming into the office as word gets out that I’m here,” she said, referring to Spanish-speaking residents. “Normally, they will bring their kids to translate. Now that I’m here, they don’t.”
Gonzalez is available to take phone calls or accommodate in-person visits from Sioux Center residents — English speaking or not — who have questions about their utility bills, parking tickets or rebates for energy-efficient appliances. She also translates written documents and e-mail into Spanish as needed.
Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Gonzalez moved to Texas with her mother in the 1990s, and in 2011, she moved to Sioux Center, where she lives with her husband and three children. Gonzalez said she is deeply invested in connecting non-English speaking residents with the city services they need.
Ofelia Gonzalez sits at her desk in the Sioux Center City Office on July 26. Gonzalez is able to assist Spanish-speaking residents.
“Sometimes, when I was growing up, I was the translator for my mom,” she said. “I know how that can be difficult.”
Sioux Center city administrator Scott Wynja said having a bilingual staff member, along with providing other interpreting and translating services as needed, is an important part of communicating with residents whose lives are affected by city decisions.
During a recent meeting about Sioux Center’s Highway 75 expansion project, city leaders and members of the Iowa Department of Transportation met with property owners along the highway, and interpreting services were offered. Spanish speakers could grab a headset on their way in, and as officials spoke to the crowd, Spanish-speaking residents could hear a simultaneous interpretation provided by a Sioux Center-based interpreting and translating business, Comunicamos.
“There are a number of property owners along Highway 75 that are Spanish speaking, and that was extremely beneficial,” Wynja said. “It’s confusing enough, just to follow all the guidelines and information, so the last thing we wanted was any language barrier issues.”
Isabel Lerma
Before Isabel Lerma took the position of events director for the Parkview Event Center in Rock Valley, she worked as a paralegal in an immigration law firm in Sioux Falls, SD. In both her former and current roles, being bilingual has been an asset.
Isabel Lerma takes a phone call at her desk in the Rock Valley City Office. As events director, Lerma draws on her ability to speak two languages.
“When the city was hiring for the position, and they saw on my resume that I was bilingual, they said, ‘Oh, that’s great. We want someone who can help us communicate with the community,’” she said.
Lerma often finds herself communicating in Spanish with people who want to book the event center for large gatherings and celebrations, and along with weddings, quinceañeras are the most commonly booked event at the center. A quinceañera is an important rite of passage for 15-year-old girls in many Latin American cultures.
“It’s a big celebration,” Lerma said. “It’s a huge party.”
The attire is formal, and sometimes, a mariachi band plays during dinner. At other events, depending on the heritage of the girl being celebrated, there may be tamales, sopes or carnitas, among other traditional foods. Always, Lerma said, there is dancing.
Quinceañeras, which are an important rite of passage for 15-year-old girls in many Latin American cultures, are one of the most commonly booked events at the Parkview Event center in Rock Valley. This quinceañera took place at the event center last year.
Lerma sees her work with the city as one important way of helping all members of the community feel welcome in Rock Valley. Lerma’s family is multilingual — her husband, originally from Senegal, speaks several languages as well — and Lerma said Rock Valley has proved to be a welcoming place.
“I feel like Rock Valley — it’s just so open,” she said. “As a Mexican American who works in the city office, I just want to make people — our clients — feel as comfortable as I can.”
This is the final article in a series about growing linguistic diversity in N’West Iowa. Across social sectors — health care, criminal justice, business and education — a rising number of non-English speakers presents challenges, but also new possibilities. Many in N’West Iowa are working to overcome language barriers to create a welcoming community for all.
