3 Latino brothers with MPD aim to strengthen ties with Spanish-speaking community

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Police officers often refer to themselves as brothers and sisters in blue, but there are three officers in the Milwaukee Police Department who are also brothers by blood.

"Our parents are immigrants and they grew up seeking the American dream," Sgt. Efrain Cornejo said.

Their own family story has inspired their day-to-day work within the police department.

"For me, it's important to help and serve our Latino community because I've seen the struggles that my parents went through," Cornejo said.

"We grew up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood," Miguel said.

Miguel is the oldest of the brothers and he works as a detective. Efrain, the middle child, works as the public information officer for the department. Julio is the youngest and is has been a patrol officer since April last year. He currently works in District 2.

"I enjoy patrolling District 2 because this is the area where I grew up. I try to be a nice officer and give my services and play sometimes, or talk with kids I see in the street when I can and make an impact," Julio said.

"We're here to communicate with them and continue to break down the barrier between the community and police, however with the Latino community we're also trying to break that language barrier," Efrain said.

It's already a difficult profession, but serving their community brings this family pride.

"I was able to see my brother, Miguel, promote to detective, and ironically he now wears my detective badge when I was a detective, and it grows more ties between us in this profession," Efrain said.