By John Weiss
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
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But they also said they need help understanding the American culture because their children are learning about the culture and language much faster, giving them power over their parents because they need to translate for them, said Abdullah Hared, director of Somali Community Resettlement Services.
While bridging the gap and learning about American culture is the long-term goal, the immediate reason for the meeting at Rochester City Hall was two 16-year-old Somali girls who are missing. They were last seen leaving Mayo High School last Thursday and the families are looking to police for help in finding them.
Some are frustrated because they don't think police acted fast enough, Hared said. "The work they did was not as much as expected," he said.
This is not the first time a girl has been missing, he said. One was gone last year.
Rochester Police Capt. Brian Winters, however, said his department was willing to meet with families of the missing girls as soon as possible. They have opened an investigation.
He said he couldn't talk about specifics at the public meeting but stressed that police need the Somali community to come forward with information. Somali children aren't missing any more than teens from other groups, he said. "It's not unusual," he said.
He also said it's possible to set up a liaison with the community to make it easier for Somalis to talk with police on non-emergency matters.
The gathering of people on Wednesday offered some solutions to help with the missing girls and long-term with police. Read about it Thursday's print edition.
Source: PostBulletin