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  • 1 year ago
Groundbreaking bilingual officers promoted to Detectives in 1979 tackle Houston's rising Latin homicide cases. Dubbed "T | dHNfbDE3RVoxSHNZMnc

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00:00In the 1970s, Houston's crime rate was astronomical and getting higher.
00:08People didn't trust the police officers, especially the Hispanic community.
00:11Tension just escalates until it breaks out into an all-out riot.
00:16There was a language barrier.
00:18So Jim said, let's get officers that speak Spanish and start kind of a special squad.
00:24Oh, that's a good idea.
00:27This is really the first fully bilingual Spanish-speaking detective squad in the country.
00:32They said it was going to be for 90 days.
00:34They made it clear, if it doesn't work out, everybody's going back to patrol.
00:39I didn't know anything.
00:40They threw us out there.
00:41We couldn't believe what we were seeing.
00:44The Chicano squad had an impossible job to do.
00:48The pressure was there.
00:50They were like, we have to succeed at this because you didn't know if this thing was
00:56going to last.
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