FORT WORTH, Texas — It’s quite common for Officer Daniel Segura with the Fort Worth Police Department to be recognized and greeted by people just about anywhere he goes in the city.  

He has spent more than 18 years serving and building strong relationships in Cowtown. One of his biggest goals is making sure people are not fearful of contacting those who he says are there to protect and serve.

“If they get pulled over for a traffic violation, are we going to call immigration on them?” Segura said of the concerns. 

As an immigrant from Mexico City, he understands the difficulties that a language barrier can cause for some residents in Texas when reaching out to the police.

“They might feel more comfortable speaking in Spanish than in English, so when they see a sign on the police car saying ‘I speak Spanish, how may I help you,’ well that creates a very positive impact,” he said.

Due to that issue, he instated an initiative that lets residents know when an officer speaks Spanish, by placing decals on the squad vehicles of bilingual officers.

COVID-19 has made his duty of connecting with the community a bit more difficult, but he always finds a way of staying in touch with residents. He recently began engaging them and providing them with important updates through social media.

“But we can still talk to citizens, we can still approach them…,” he continued.

He sometimes gets very creative, showing off his dance moves and sharing jokes to lighten up the mood amid the pandemic.

“It’s like his way of telling us he’s approachable. It gives us trust because we see that he’s one of us,” said Fort Worth resident Maribel Gutierrez.

Segura says he enjoys showing his personality with residents, but most of all he is grateful to increase that open communication with them because they trust him with serious issues as well.

“It’s just a way of showing them who I am; however, when it’s time to do our job as an officer, I’m a police officer,” he added.

Another top priority for him is police accountability, especially after a year of high tensions surfacing from police brutality cases.

“We’re not above the law and we have to understand that as a police officer,” said the FWPD community outreach officer.

He says in a field like law enforcement, diversity and unity are imperative and until he retires he will continue to work on ways to grow those areas.

Another initiative Segura helps organize and participates in every year is an international police exchange program with Mexican police departments. Officers participating in the program travel to learn from each other by sharing valuable law enforcement protocols, tactics, and other valuable information to improve their service in both countries.