Cop Serves As A Liaison To Latino Community

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Story and photo by John Burton
RED BANK – “It wasn’t easy. We didn’t have much,” said Sgt. Juan Sardo, with the Red Bank Police Department, remembering back when he and his family arrived in the U.S. and settled in the borough.
Those who come from other countries, just like anyone else, travel different paths in life. Some take on the challenge of starting and operating a business. Some continue to work for others. Sardo helps others as a police officer. And with his background, language skill and sensibilities stemming from his background, he serves as a voice for many in the increasingly diverse community that Red Bank has become.
Sardo, who is assigned to the patrol division, is among a number of the 42-member department who are fluent in Spanish, assisting the large Latino population that has been growing for the last approximately 20 years.
Sardo serves as the department’s liaison to the Latino community, often taking on the responsibility of communicating with the community putting forth department information that would benefit those residents. That mission is often done in cooperation with St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church, 121 Bridge Ave., which is responsible for a considerable amount of outreach to the Hispanic community.
It’s Sardo’s own life story that provides an added layer of insight into the plight of the recently arrived.
“With my background I can communicate better with the community,” he offered. “Not only communicate,” he continued, “I can relate to them.”
Sardo was just 6, and didn’t speak a word of English, when he and his family left Venezuela for the U.S. His father, an Italian national, was a soldier in the Italian Army during World War II, who immigrated to the South American country following Italy’s surrender and married and started a family.
In 1979 the family moved and settled in Red Bank. However, Sardo’s parents divorced and his father moved away and is no longer in the family picture.
“It was really hard,” for him, his mother, Dianora and his three siblings, Sardo remembered. “You had to adjust to a different language,” and culture. Sardo acknowledged the language barrier led him to having to repeat a primary school grade at a time when there weren’t many Latinos in the community.
“She raised the four of us cleaning houses in Rumson,” with the money not going far enough, Sardo said. “There was a lot of sacrifice.” School shopping meant visiting the former Monarc thrift shop on Monmouth Street.
Growing up, though, “My mom instilled in us really good values.” And that included an appreciation of hard work, he said. “We learned responsibility quick.”
At 12 he got his first job learning to make pizzas at Luigi’s Pizzeria and went on to working in just about everywhere in town where pizza was made, including Mr. Pizza Slice and The Brothers, still operating today.
Today he continues that work ethic, by using his off time from the department working as a real estate agent. In the early 2000s he and another officer opened a hair salon, Que Bonita, on Shrewsbury Avenue, with Spanish speaking stylists, catering to the Hispanic community. They sold the salon a few years later.
Sardo has been with the department for 19 years, working in various bureaus. “There’s no better work than police work, for this,” he said, where he can offer help and protection for the entire community.
He mentors every other week at Lunch Break soup kitchen and food pantry, helping community members having difficulty making their way. “This is what I’m all about,” noting his strong religious faith, instilled in him by his mother, has been a grounding influence for much of his life. He is a member of the First Assembly of God Church, Shrewsbury, where Sardo transports some children to Bible study.
In 2005 he received the Law Enforcement Award from the NAACP of Greater Red Bank; and in 2015 he was inducted into the Red Bank Regional High School’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.
The Hispanic community can be victims of crime, taken advantage of by the unscrupulous and dangerous. However, “They have a fear coming forward reporting a crime,” especially those whose who may not be here undocumented.
That’s not an issue for local law enforcement, he tries to make clear to the community. “Policy is we don’t ask,” about immigration status in that context, he explained. If it’s not exactly a law enforcement issue, he explains, what can people do to address it.
“For me there’s only one race – the human race,” he said.
Sardo has been married for 20 years to his wife Nohemi, has two children, Juan Jr., 13, and Javier, 10, and lives in Ocean Township.
He may not have been born here, but Sardo has come to appreciate his home. “This is the best country in the world. My country.
“I thank God every day that my old man decided to come here.”