Alejandro Rangel Jr. Photo by BB Rivas / El Concilio Family Services
Editor’s note: Part of a continuing series of stories profiling the award-winners of El Concilio Family Services 2014 Latino Leadership Awards. The awards gala will be held on Saturday, May 31 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center. Registration is now closed. Click here or call 805-486-9777 for more information.
Amigos805 staff reports
Alejandro Rangel Jr., a sergeant with the Oxnard Police Department, was born and raised in Fillmore, attended schools in the Fillmore United School District and is a graduate of Ventura College and Union Institute & University, with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Management.
He was sworn in as an officer with the Santa Paula Police Department and worked patrol for four years before accepting an assignment to the department’s first Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program where he implemented a bilingual program before his two-year term ended.
He returned to patrol before transferring to the Oxnard Police Department. He requested the work assignment at the La Colonia as the neighborhood storefront officer, where he continued his efforts of fostering relationships between officers, community based organizations and the business community.
He implemented the DARE program at Chavez School, Ramona School and created a modified version of the program for the Oxnard Housing Authority. He was also given access to “The Street Beat en español” television program where he educated the Spanish-speaking community with a variety of police and governmental policies and procedures. He collaborated with Miguel Lopez, the department’s community affairs manager, to modify and finalize the curriculum for the “Academia de Seguridad para la Comunidad.”
As a detective assigned to the Major Crimes Domestic Violence Unit, he has collaborated with the local Coalition to End Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault to create a Spanish-language curriculum to train Spanish-speaking victim advocates. As a Beat Coordinator, he has specialized in Community Oriented Policing and developed a neighborhood watch program that was eventually translated into Spanish and Mixteco.
“His vision of community partnerships was evident in the recent graduation of the Academia de Seguridad for the Spanish speaking population, the first graduating class in the history of the department,” according to one nomination letter. “It provided insight to the graduates on the inner workings of the Oxnard Police Department. Many of the graduates expressed gratitude towards Sergeant Rangel for creating this academy. Sergeant Rangel is a role model for all youth in Oxnard. His leadership and success in working with the youth promotes a message of hope that anybody can be successful in life.”
For more information on El Concilio’s programs and services, visit www.elconciliofs.org or call 805-486-9777.