ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – For Orange County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Angel Cirino, serving his community is an honor.
He says the drive to protect and to serve comes from his father and grandfather, who were in law enforcement in Puerto Rico.
“It’s in me, right? That heart of service and basically, I inquired about it. It was something that I was always interested in doing,” Cirino said.
Puedes mirar la entrevista con Sargento Angel Cirino y Ezzy Castro en español aqui
Cirino has been at the sheriff’s office since 2001.
“A lot of my colleagues were Hispanic and I started here in the west side of town,” he said.
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He took a drive with Trooper Steve and Ezzy Castro in Results-1 Wednesday, where he spoke about the importance of engaging and connecting with the Hispanic community.
Cirino said he was just in Puerto Rico over the summer in an effort to recruit deputies for the sheriff’s office.
“We just went there in July and because of the growing population in Central Florida of Hispanics we wanted to recruit Hispanic officers that are bilingual and can communicate with that community, so it was a very successful trip. I’m actually going next week to finish up the testing there,” Cirino said.
We caught up with Sheriff John Mina at the National Latino Peace Officers Association, which was a conference that took place in Orange County.
“That’s why we continue to recruit Hispanic-speaking deputies, because a lot of our community only speak Spanish so if you’re going out to a call or that person needs help, or they are trying to hurt someone else, we want to deescalate the situation. It’s important to speak that language,” Sheriff Mina said.
The sheriff’s office also offers an academy called “Academia de Policia Civil Hispana” which is an eight-week program that gives Spanish-speaking residents the opportunity to learn more about the agency at no cost.
“The purpose of the academy is so that people understand the policies, the structure of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and our function,” Cirino said.
The academy is also offered in Portuguese and the goal is to eventually offer it in Creole.
“We want to be able to be transparent with our community and be able to engage with our community and form that partnership with our community,” Cirino said.
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