GEORGETOWN, Del.- The Georgetown Police Department is growing and hoping to better serve the community.
"It's a lot of work. It's stressful and exciting. I love the job," says Officer Giovany Gomez, who's been training for two weeks.
Gomez brings a particularly important skill to the force: He's bilingual.
"I grew up in Seaford but, my family is from Mexico," explains Gomez.
With a rapidly growing Hispanic community in the town, Georgetown Police Chief R.L. Hughes says hiring officers with diverse backgrounds is key to improve the relationship with the people they serve.
"Georgetown is a very diverse community, in fact, we're probably the most diverse community in the state of Delaware. We're 48.6 Percent Hispanic or Latino," said Chief Hughes.
Chief Hughes says their goal is to be a reflection of the increasingly diverse areas they serve.
"People are more comfortable when they talk to people that look and sound the same, it helps us communicate better," says Hughes. "When we talk about our diversity, and how we increase our diversity here, we're not lowering any standards whatsoever. We pride ourselves on holding each other accountable on very high standards; it's the outreach is getting the highest number of folks to apply."
But Gomez is not the only bilingual member of the department.
"We have eight officers or eight individuals that speak Spanish, and we've seen the change in the trust that the community has with this agency now," explains Sgt. Joel Diaz.
