Lynn’s immigrants and police share a gulf

But they generally keep their distance from the police - and not always for the reasons that outsiders might expect.

Sitting in a taqueria one day last week, some said they avoided police because they are here illegally. But others said they found police unhelpful. Shaking his head, the cook said some people just want to lie low.

“Sometimes it’s better not to say anything,’’ the cook said, declining to give his name. “You don’t want to look for problems.’’

Gaining the trust of immigrants, who often come from countries where people view police with fear or suspicion, is a challenge for police departments across the United States. But in Lynn, budget cuts and language barriers make the job harder when the city is reeling from the July 22 attack on Damian Merida, a 30-year-old landscaper who police say was targeted because of his ethnicity.

Attacks like the one Merida suffered are rare, but his case has illuminated the hidden struggles of immigrants who fail to report crimes to a police force that largely cannot communicate with large swaths of the city. Only 7.5 percent of the Lynn force is bilingual, while more than 38 percent of the residents speak a language other than English at home.

For weeks, police have called for the victim of an earlier attack in the area where Merida was beaten to come forward, but no one has responded.

“Do we have immigrants that are preyed upon by the criminal element? Yeah, we do,’’ said Acting Chief Kevin Coppinger. “Some are reported to us. Some are not reported to us. A lot of these folks are good, hard-working people. . . . They’re afraid of us for whatever reasons. We would very much encourage them, if they become a victim of crime, to talk to us.’’

Coppinger said police do not question immigrants about their legal status if they are victims of crime. He said officers have tried to spread the word at soccer tournaments and English-as-a-second-language classes and would visit any community group that invited them. Police won praise for their aggressive investigation of the Merida case: Six boys, ages 11 to 14 at the time, have pleaded not guilty to multiple assault counts and civil rights violations for the attack, which relatives say left Merida with permanent brain damage.

But Rubén G. Rumbaut, a sociology professor at the University of California at Irvine who spoke about immigrants and local police at a national Police Foundation conference last year, said police must actively reach out to the community, instead of waiting for groups to invite them. Police could host meetings at the police station, attend community forums, or hold seminars, he said.

Such outreach, Rumbaut said, can allay the fears of immigrants from countries marred by police violence.

“I’ve known of people that have broken into instant cold sweats when they see a uniformed person,’’ he said in an interview. “The idea of the friendly policeman or community-oriented policing, as it has come to be known in the United States, is not the typical association that an immigrant brings with him or her.’’

Elsewhere in Massachusetts, police have launched efforts to reach immigrants.

In East Boston, officers attended community meetings last spring and took immigrants on a tour of the Police Academy and the 911 call center. Chelsea hired a part-time newcomer advocate a few months ago, with funding from Partners HealthCare, to serve as a liaison between police and immigrant groups, said City Manager Jay Ash.

Lynn police say they are committed to community policing, but acknowledge that budget cuts have hindered their efforts.

The department has 172 officers but would prefer 225, Coppinger said. It eliminated bicycle and foot patrols, considered effective ways of reaching residents, because funding dried up.

It also urged community groups to reach out to the department. Police did not know that the Guatemalan consulate for the region, based in Providence, was bringing a “mobile consulate’’ to Lynn last weekend to help immigrants obtain Guatemalan identification cards and to provide other services. If they had known, police said, they would have shown up and handed out fliers about reporting crime.

“We would have definitely done a leaflet thing or something there,’’ said Lieutenant William Sharpe, the department spokesman. “We are trying to reach out. We don’t want anybody to be a victim of crime regardless of what their status is.’’

Frances Martinez, executive director of the nonprofit La Vida Inc., a nonprofit in Lynn, said the event has been held for the past five years, and has been covered in the local newspaper.

Carlos Escobedo, the Guatemalan consul, said he will encourage immigrants to report crimes to the police and the consulate. “We’ll be helping our people so that they aren’t afraid,’’ he said.

Nearly 30 percent of the city’s population are immigrants, one of the highest rates in the state.

Official crime statistics in Lynn show that violent crime is down 9 percent in the city so far this year. But stories of unreported violence abound.

In the field behind Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, where Merida was attacked, a 32-year-roofer named Jose Martinez said that a group of boys jumped him four months ago as he was cutting through the park one afternoon on his way home from work. They stole $20. He did not call the police. Asked why, he just shook his head.

Last week at the taqueria, a 23-year-old auto mechanic from Guatemala said he would not report a crime, either.

“We all left our countries for a reason, to help our families,’’ said the man, who declined to give his name because he is here illegally and fears deportation. “Unfortunately, there’s this fear that if I call the police, they’ll take me away.’’

Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.