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Liaison is city's cultural bridge

The Clearwater police officer's beat is citywide. His duty is serving the Spanish-speaking residents.

By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
Published May 23, 2005

	[Times photo: Edmund Fountain]
	Children in a day care program at the Spanish Outreach Center at the YWCA in Clearwater rush around Clearwater police Officer William Farias to greet him as he visits their class last week. Farias goes to visit the class daily so that the children learn to be comfortable with the police. "If I don't go visit them first thing in the morning or in the afternoon they are like "where is the police?' " says Farias, the department's liaison with the city's Spanish-speaking community.

Every manager in the restaurant stops - twice - to say hello to Clearwater officer William Farias.

Unlike most customers, Farias stops eating - twice - to say hello to the busboys.

Actually, he says more than hello. He asks how they're doing, if they're okay. He instinctively knows if the person speaks Spanish. He is fluent in the language.

He's not at work and yet he's at work.

Between bites of a toasted wheat bread and bacon sandwich (mashed together tight so the bacon won't escape) he observes people and wonders how he can help them.

Farias is Clearwater's only Hispanic liaison officer - a neighborhood cop whose 'hood is not defined by geography, but by language. His job is to work with, and be a resource to, the Spanish speaking community.

It's a big job . Clearwater is home to an estimated 20,000 Hispanics - many of whom don't have U.S. citizenship. But it's Farias' calling.

Years ago, when his father emigrated from Cuba to New York City, someone helped the elder Farias learn English. Two words a day.

The younger Farias feels it's his turn to help immigrants, especially those from his father's part of the world.

Life options

Farias left Cuba 46 years ago but remembers the journey well.

Each family member was supposed to keep just one outfit, but Farias had something extra - a gold chain with a medallion depicting Cuba's patron saint, the Virgin of Regla.

As they boarded the plane, Faria's mother told him to put the chain in his mouth and stay quiet. If not, Fidel Castro would claim the memento.

Farias, now 55, still has that necklace.

It reminds him of the value of self-created options, which is why this 30-year police veteran moonlights as the owner of a new bait and tackle shop in Safety Harbor.

Though not quite a retirement plan, selling frozen shrimp and sparkly plastic jelly worms is something Farias likes to do when he's not juggling police duties. Plus, the store allows Farias to continue his off-duty passions: talking, observing and fishing.

Some 100 people showed to the late April grand opening of Safety Harbor Bait and Tackle. Farias barbecued and served little fruit squares.

It's now the kind of place where old men sit out front and drink coffee , and where kids drop their bikes in the dirt, go in with a dollar and come out with something special.

Opening a bait shop is the next step for an officer who's done everything from narcotics investigation to hostage negotiation. He could retire this year if he wanted. If he does, he'll need something to do.

"We, especially people with stressful jobs, we should retire to something rather than retire from something," said Farias, who lives in Tampa. "What's the next step? It shouldn't be sitting in a rocking chair and smoking a corncob pipe."

From SWAT to bait shop

Farias was born in the United States, though his family is Cuban and Puerto Rican. His grandfather ran a ferry between Key West and Cuba. His dad was in the Cuban merchant marine before emigrating to New York City, where he stayed awhile before moving back to Cuba with his infant son. Nine years later, the family returned to the United States via Miami.

The younger Farias spent years in the military. He went to Vietnam with the U.S. Navy and ended his military career with a stint in the Coast Guard, ironically, in Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. prison camp on the island of Cuba.

His trail to Safety Harbor Bait and Tackle is seasoned by his life. Most recently it's spiced by his current gig as Hispanic liaison.

Clearwater police decided to reach out to Hispanics in 2000 after deciding it wasn't their job to act as henchmen for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The city teamed with the YWCA of Tampa Bay to build the Hispanic Outreach Center, where Farias has an office.

Part of the gig includes educating officers on the variety within Central and South American cultures. He also intercedes when an immigrant with a poor understanding of local customs or laws needs help.

Once, a Mexican construction worker asked Farias for help getting the builder to pay him. Farias called the builder, who told him the man was illegal anyway, so what did it matter?

Farias didn't let it go.

"It's like "Listen, just do the right thing,"' Farias said. "You hired them."

Somehow, Farias has gained the community's trust, said Frances Serrano-Lux, YWCA Tampa Bay vice president.

"Anywhere he goes within the community, he's made himself known and people want to talk to him," Serrano-Lux said.

Some might question why the city would aid illegal immigrants, but Farias doesn't.

"I hate to use the word "they,' but if they're here, we can no longer ignore them," Farias said.

Traci Stein, 36, is Farias' girlfriend and bait shop partner. She runs the place while he's at work.

"He doesn't know what to do if he has nothing to do," Stein said. "With his love of Clearwater and love of fishing it combines everything for him."

The business provides Farias with more choices, just as he chose to keep that gold medallion on his tongue during the flight from Cuba.

"They would've taken it," Farias said of the necklace. "But I still have it... The key to survival is to have options."

--Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 23, 2005, 01:23:18]