Sheriff’s Outreach Overcomes a Language Barrier : Law enforcement: Under the year-old Adelante program, deputies re-educate Latino immigrants who sometimes cling to values that clash with U.S. customs. Students welcome the information.

Two paddle fans buzz in the muggy Moorpark chapel as sheriff’s Deputy Albert Miramontes waves a new T-shirt overhead, waiting for someone to tell him about the bicycle helmet law.

When a man explains the law correctly in Spanish, Miramontes rewards him with a broad smile and the shirt, the latter emblazoned with the green-lettered word ADELANTE, meaning, “Forward!”

This is the Adelante program, a year-old experiment in cross-cultural outreach from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department to the county’s tightknit, Spanish-speaking communities.

Every six weeks or so, Miramontes, 28, and Sgt. Jerry Hernandez, 31, test their flawed Spanish on about 30 Latino Moorpark residents in a freewheeling hybrid of town gathering, quiz show and infomercial.

As the deputies hand out prizes and try to make friends, a few more of Moorpark’s Spanish-speaking residents learn about the law--and come to realize that these are not the corrupt or violent cops they may have known back in Mexico or Central America.

“It’s a totally different mind-set” than found among many of Moorpark’s non-Latino residents, Hernandez said later.

“The first thing that comes to their mind when they see a cop is he’s corrupt and very unprofessional and very cruel and in some places sadistic,” he said. “The government, to them, is not the good guys.”

In Camarillo, Deputy Luis De Anda and a coterie of volunteers hold similar monthly meetings to spread Adelante’s message.

On a recent Saturday, they gave out Adelante T-shirts and children’s bicycle helmets at St. Mary Magdalen Church while quizzing their Latino audience about the law.

“The message we’re trying to get out is accepted quite well,” De Anda said.

Many times, De Anda said, he finds himself re-educating new Americans who cling to values that clash with laws in the United States. Seat belts and sober driving, for instance, are not nearly as important in some Central American countries, he said.

“Their upbringing is, ‘When it’s my turn to die, it’s my turn to die,’ ” De Anda said. “We tell them, ‘You can prevent part of this. If you’re involved in an accident and you’re holding an infant in your arms without a seat belt, . . . this is what’s going to happen.’ ”

Then, to drive home the point, De Anda said he shows them a graphic video of unbelted crash-test dummies smashing into dashboards and windshields.

Language is one of the hardest barriers to cross in educating Latino communities about American law, he said. So, from time to time, De Anda is host on Latino radio talk shows, fielding questions about drunk driving and traffic safety.

“We tell them that the American police . . . have a job to do, and the letter of the law has been written to be enforced, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

In Moorpark, one of Adelante’s most important goals is acclimating Latino residents to the notion that police are there to help, not harass, Hernandez said.

During the Adelante gathering last week, Miramontes lectured in Spanish and answered questions on topics ranging from drunk driving to disturbing the peace.

The appreciative crowd was mostly new to Adelante.

If someone next door is partying or washing clothes at 2 a.m., Miramontes urged, “Call us! You’re supposed to call the police. That’s disturbing the peace.”

Then he joked, “But don’t call me if the cockroaches are bothering you crawling around the ceiling.” He cocked his finger and mimed blasting the offending bugs, adding, “I’ll just come and shoot them, bam bam bam bam!”

While laughter filled the tiny chapel, some newcomers sat back and said nothing, watching quietly while their children romped in the back.

But Sergio and Araceli Granados sat bolt upright and smiling in the front row with their three children, eagerly tossing out answers to Miramontes’ queries.

This was their fourth meeting, Araceli Granados, 27, explained later.

One correct answer won them an Adelante sports bottle. Another earned their year-old daughter, Janet, a car seat--a real boon since they got ticketed in Oxnard last month for driving without one, Araceli said.

Nineteen more child seats, purchased with money from the $4,000 California Highway Patrol grant that funds Adelante, were given out at the meeting and later at the Moorpark sheriff’s station to needy Latino families identified by Catholic Charities.

Sergio Granados, a 32-year-old handyman, said later of the Adelante meetings, “They have a lot of information about traffic and the laws, much information that we need. This helps us a lot.”

After giving away another car seat, Miramontes swiftly shifted gears: “If your car gets stopped by the police, you need to produce three things. What are they?”

Someone in the back answered, “License, insurance and registration,” parroting a lecture Miramontes gave earlier--and winning an Adelante T-shirt.

“When a bicycle is in your yard, it’s a bicycle, but when it’s in the street, it’s a vehicle,” Miramontes continued, barely breaking stride. “Which side of the street do you ride on?”

“The right!” shouted someone, winning a sports bottle.

Miramontes lectured about laws forbidding passengers in open pickup truck beds without seat belts.

And he warned them about piling too many people into pickup trucks with camper shells, recalling the 14 homicide counts filed against a pickup driver whose 14 passengers died in a crash near Barstow this year.

Within an hour, Miramontes finished by inviting the group to cluster around a table where he and Hernandez had spread Adelante stickers, pens, refrigerator magnets and pamphlets atop a bright Mexican blanket.

Helping recent Latino immigrants assimilate into their new culture so they respect California laws is one of Adelante’s chief goals, Miramontes said.

In their homelands, Latinos often don’t complain to police about minor offenses because, if they commit a similar infraction, they hope for lenient treatment, he said.

“I tell them, ‘Hey, you guys have got to call the police,’ ” he said. “And I say, ‘Hey, if you’re out there doing something bad, I’ll come after you.’ ”

Hernandez added, “What we talk about is telling them to learn English. And we encourage the kids not to lose their Spanish because it’s a beautiful language and it’s part of their heritage. And living in California, it’s definitely an advantage. . . . But they’re responsible, we think, to learn the language.”

Indeed, he said, some families see Adelante as a boost to their attempts to assimilate quickly into U. S. culture.

“I think it’s marvelous,” said Manuel Ocampo Mayor, a 25-year-old construction worker who was at the meeting with his wife, Maria, 25, and their two young children.

“Its name means a lot,” said Maria, and she rolled the word off her tongue with a smile: “Adelante.”