BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Broken Arrow Police Department says it’s spent the last year fighting the fentanyl crisis in part by reaching out to the public to prevent the drug from taking more lives before it’s too late.
Friday, it partnered with several other agencies and nonprofits for its first bilingual forum inside Nienhuis Park Community Center.
During one presentation, BAPD reported responding to 25 fentanyl-related calls in 2023 alone.
“A lot of Hispanic families, they don’t even know what (fentanyl) is,” Lorena Salas of Angelica's Connections, Inc. said.
The Broken Arrow-based nonprofit assists with funerals for low-income families, but since January, it has stepped in for mostly fentanyl-related deaths -- 40 of them.
“It’s hard," Salas said. "But in the meantime, it’s just people that need to get more education. That’s how I call (it). It’s people that need to be more at knowledge to know what’s going on, what’s going on in the community.”
BAPD Sgt. Eric Nester said the department and its bilingual officers jumped at the opportunity to co-host Friday’s forum in Spanish with help from other local and state agencies.
Thirteen percent of families in Broken Arrow report speaking Spanish at home.
“We want people to get the information in the language that they comprehend the best, that they can apply to their family life, and that they can pass on to their other family members, including kids,” Sgt. Nester said.
Broken Arrow-based real estate agent Patty Contreras decided to come with her daughter and said she was shocked to learn about the drug’s impact in the area.
“Yes, because I didn’t really know much about this drug," Contreras said. "So it was important for me to come and learn.”
Salas said that education will save lives.
“Especially that," Salas added. "And I think if you have faith, anything could happen.”
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