By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – San Diego Police Officer Abdiweli Heibeh has one simple piece of advice for Maine police departments: Hire Somali officers.

That’s the best way to bridge the gap between two cultures that can easily misunderstand each other.

“A Somali officer can get more information from people in the community than they will give to you,” he said. “As a Somali, you help to teach people to trust the police.”

Heibeh is in Maine for the next few days and will teach a seminar at the Maine Community Policing Institute in Augusta on Thursday. He spent Tuesday meeting with police officers and members of Maine’s Somali community in Lewiston, Auburn and Portland.

Heibeh urged Lewiston officers to learn the subtle cues and miscues between the cultures. Don’t beckon a Somali with a pointed finger, he said.

“That’s interpreted badly,” Heibeh told the Lewiston officers. “That’s how you call a dog, or something below you now, not man.”

Keep in mind that Somali culture heavily favors men. Don’t offer to shake hands with a Somali woman. Talk to the male head of the household first.

“If you don’t, no one in the family will talk to you again,” he said.

Somalis tend to stand closer, ignoring personal space, and touch when they are talking.

“An officer can interpret that as someone reaching for his gun,” Heibeh said.

He helped create an 11-minute video for officers that explains some of the cultural differences. That video helps, Heibeh said, but it doesn’t have the same impact as someone who is native to the language and the culture.

Officers often rely on anyone who is on hand to translate during a crisis, and that can backfire. Once, he responded to a family disturbance to find the couple’s teenage daughter translating for the parents. But instead of translating, Heibeh said she was threatening her parents.

“She was telling them, You’d better do what I say, or you’re going to jail,'” he said.

In another case, police nearly arrested a Somali woman whose son was growing marijuana plants. She didn’t know what they were.

“She told officers, Be very careful with those plants. That’s my son’s high school science project,'” Heibeh said.

Heibeh came to the United States in 1986 as a major in the Somali National Army to study air defense. He graduated but decided to stay in the States and seek asylum.

He joined the San Diego Police Department in 1998 as a community service officer. CSOs wear badges and uniforms but not guns and do not have the authority to arrest people.

The city currently has 12 CSOs who act as liaisons with the refugee community, translating for officers and helping to police the community.

Heibeh later became a full-time, sworn police officer – the only Somali-born officer in the United States. He’s regularly called to help in domestic disturbances involving Somalis.

Lewiston Police Chief William Welch said he would be happy to hire a Somali officer. The city doesn’t review applications based on ethnicity, however, so they couldn’t favor a Somali applicant.

“We’d encourage them to apply, anyhow,” he said.