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Police work to rebuild trust with Latin American community

The tasering death of a Brazilian student last year saw a slide in the community's relationship with police. Officers are now trying to rebuild trust through the game Latin Americans love most: football.

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(Image credit: Jorge Jordan, SBS)

2 min read

Published

Updated

By Marion Ives

Source: World News Australia, SBS


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International students and Latin American migrants have taken on the New South Wales police force at a beach football tournament organised at Sydney's Coogee beach.

It's one step to rebuild trust after the tasering death of Brazilian Roberto Laudisio Curtis last year.

"This is a long way to walk, you know what I mean," says Brazilian migrant Daniel Farias. "Sometimes they trust a lot on police and police sometimes doesn't trust a lot community."

The Consul General for Brazil says the mistrust runs deep after the taser-related death of Roberto Laudisio Curtis.

"It leaves a knot in the relationship," Consul General Eduardo Carvalho says.

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"But it has been handled very well and little by little it is getting in the background."

Superintendent Gavin Dengate says the NSW Police is working hard to repair the broken trust.

"Surely we understand and appreciate that their trust with us will be down a bit. We understand and hope this goes some way towards that."

Eric Paixao knew Roberto Laudisio Curti.

He says the tragedy has had an unexpectedly positive change on student behaviour.

"They said I don't need to drink that much or get anything extra to have a good night."

This isn't the only event of its kind organised by the NSW police.

A cricket match with Indian students, basketball, volleyball and an Asian world cup have also been held.

It's all aimed at promoting the image of a more approachable police force.

"We want to show we're not like others they've had dealings with," says Superintendent Denagte. "We're approachable and here to help."

Listen: Hear this story reported by SBS Radio's Portugese program below.

Listen: SBS Radio's Spanish program interviews Veronica Millar, public officer for Multicultural Policies at the NSW Police Department.


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