Posted on 03/13/2004 9:54:58 AM PST by Gritty
"Stop! Police!"
These are two simple words that are easy to understand if you speak English. But in a region where the Hispanic population has exploded over the past 10 years, the meaning may not be as clear.
"ÁAlto! ÁPolic’a!" might make a difference if you speak Spanish.
But in the case of the lethal March 5 shooting of a Hispanic suspect, law enforcement officials and residents say that whether the deputies knew Spanish would not have made a difference.
Running from or attacking police is, or should be, a known wrong among all cultures, said Hendersonville Police Chief Donnie Parks.
"Those are universal codes of understanding," he said.
On March 5, native of Mexico Saul Perez did run from and did attack two Henderson County sheriff's deputies who, in the struggle, shot and killed Perez. Perez, 33, spoke little English and neither of the deputies spoke Spanish.
The incident has sparked discussion among law enforcement and in the Hispanic community about whether Perez's death could have been prevented had he and the officers spoken the same language.
All Henderson County Sheriff's Department patrol deputies carry with them Spanish-English quick reference guides, which were issued by the department about two years ago, said Sheriff George H. Erwin Jr. The flip-book-style guide contains Spanish phrases and possible responses to requests such as "I need your driver's license." But when a suspect runs or attacks, officers do not have time to consult a book, he said.
"That's a reasonable suspicion that that person has done something wrong," he said.
In interviews conducted in Spanish with the weekly Spanish newspaper La Voz Independiente, members of the Hispanic community said they were disconcerted and sad about the incident. Many wondered if it could have been prevented had Perez and the officers spoken the same language.
"We heard they killed a Mexican," said Miguel Perez, no relation, who was born in Mexico and lives near the site of the shooting. "What happened is terrible. I think the police were in the wrong because they couldn't speak Spanish and couldn't do anything but resort to violence. The solution is the police need to hire some people who can speak Spanish."
Jorge Cabrera, a native of Mexico who has lived in Henderson County on and off since 1998, said police "need a course -- in Spanish -- so they can understand and know what is the problem."
Cabrera, who works at Mercado Mexicano on U.S. 176, said he thinks the lack of communication in a common language will lead to similar incidents because police might not understand what is going on and might become dangerously confused.
Language roadblocks
Beyond last week's shooting, law enforcement officials said they recognize that language and cultural barriers between Hispanics and them present challenges. The area's growing Hispanic population increases the frequency with which police encounter those roadblocks.
In the 1990s, Henderson County's Latino population more than quadrupled, jumping from 846 in 1990 to 4,905 in 2000. The 2000 census found that of the county's 89,173 residents, 5.5 percent considered themselves of Hispanic or Latino descent. The bureau estimates that number rose to 6,600 Hispanic or Latino residents in 2002, a 34.5 percent jump.
Most law enforcement officials reported that no one on their staffs speaks fluent Spanish, although a few agencies have one bilingual officer. Some agencies reported using a Spanish language translator an average of once a week.
Area law enforcement officers say they are taking a variety of steps to cross linguistic and cultural boundaries as the number of Hispanic or Latino residents encountered by emergency workers increases.
About two years ago, the Transylvania County Sheriff's Department sent its chief deputy, Geoff Shepherd, to Mexico for a two-week Spanish immersion course. Shepherd stayed with a Mexican family in a town of 200,000 residents about 120 miles south of Mexico City. The trip, which was suggested to the department by a local Hispanic advocacy organization, improved Shepherd's Spanish speaking skills and helped him to better understand the Mexican culture, he said.
Sensitivity training
About 90 percent of the department's deputies have completed minority sensitivity training, a course that was taught with the help of Mexican natives in the community, Shepherd said. Of the department's 39 deputies, one officer speaks fluent Spanish and about six others have had Spanish language training, he said.
Officials would like to provide all patrol officers with Spanish language instruction and are considering including that training in the department's upcoming budget, Shepherd said. The department has a fixed amount of money to spend on additional instruction for deputies, so officials have to decide how high a priority Spanish classes are among the department's training needs, he said.
This year, the Polk County Sheriff's Department instituted minority sensitivity training, which focused on Hispanics, as mandatory annual instruction for deputies. The course will become state-mandated annual instruction for police departments -- though not sheriff's departments -- in 2005, said Detective Lt. Chris Beddingfield, who teaches the Polk County class.
"We've got to prepare ourselves to serve them," he said. "We've got to know about their culture and their needs."
Although none of the Polk County deputies is fluent in Spanish, half of them have taken at least one class on the language, Beddingfield said. About 95 percent of the department's officers know what he calls "street-level Spanish" -- basic phrases such as "manos arriba" for "hands up" and "licencia" for "license."
In Polk County, where Hispanics make up 3 percent of the county's residents, "it's becoming a necessity," he said.
The Polk County Sheriff's Department has a ready resource in Columbus Police Chief Chris Abril, a native of Peru whose first language is Spanish, Beddingfield said. Plans, though not set in stone, are in the works for Abril to teach bimonthly Spanish classes for deputies, he said.
Whose responsibility?
The linguistic divide between Hispanics and law enforcement also has ignited a debate about who carries the responsibility for bridging the gap.
Beddingfield said he often hears people complain that Hispanic immigrants should learn English if they are going to live in the United States. But the effort shouldn't be one-sided, he said.
"If we're going to do our job right, it's our responsibility to learn about them as well," he said.
Many immigrants will not learn English, which increases the need for deputies to be proactive in learning Spanish, Erwin said. But that doesn't mean law enforcement personnel should be the only ones trying to fit language classes into their already busy training schedule, he said.
"You can't put all the burden on this country or community," he said. "It has to be shared."
Patrick Tapia, executive director of the Latino Advocacy Coalition, responding to sentiments of some that the solution is for Hispanics to learn English, said in an interview conducted in Spanish that the substantial number of Spanish speakers already in English-as-a-second-language classes is a sign the Hispanic community is taking steps to learn the language.
But Tapia, who is Chilean, said government has to take some responsibility for solving the problem of the language barrier.
"Some organization with funds has to ensure that there are services available for Spanish speakers to learn English, and it takes more than a pamphlet," he said. "The effort has to include more Spanish-speaking personnel in government agencies."
Tapia said even if there were an expanded campaign to get Hispanics to learn English, it wouldn't help because there are neither the teachers nor the classrooms available for new students.
"We have more students than we have classrooms," he said. "Where are we going to put the students? Where are the resources going to come from?
"The common criticism of the Hispanic community is that we don't speak English," he said. "It's one thing to not to want to learn English, but it's another to not be able to learn."
But Hispanic residents should not rely on law enforcement to learn their language, just as immigrants from other countries should not expect American officers to be able to speak multiple languages, Erwin said.
"We are beginning to see a Korean population and a Russian population. Are we going to start expecting our officers to learn Korean and Russian, too?" Erwin asked. "If you're going to come here, you need to speak the language of this country. We're doing our part."
At the Fletcher Police Department, most of the agency's 11 officers know enough Spanish to get through a basic police encounter with a Hispanic, said Fletcher Police Chief Antoine Ensley. But the event is sometimes a struggle, he said.
"It's a challenge in this business," he said. "You want to do the best job you can. It's frustrating sometimes when you can't quite connect."
Working in a diverse community requires agencies to find a way to overcome language barriers, Ensley said. Still, the answer might not be found in sending law enforcement officers back to school for Spanish class, he said.
Law enforcement officials should work to form partnerships with Spanish-speaking volunteers in the community and to recruit Spanish-speaking officers, Ensley said. Ongoing training to help officers work with minorities has to be "a part of your long-term mission," he said.
"It's a barrier," Ensley said, "but it's not a barrier that can't be overcome."
The solution of course is that "immigrants" need to learn the language of their new country before being allowed to enter it. Also, we have enough criminals in this country without importing more. It might help if our own government would enforce the existing immigration and border laws, but our government isn't interested in doing that, it's not "politically correct".
Do they teach Engli in prison?
No speaky engli - no speaky engli!
I think the police were in the wrong because they couldn't speak Spanish
WHAT?!
Anyway if the cops start yelling at potentially Hispanic suspects in Spanish they will called racist for (1) deeming anyone Hispanic unless that person has publicly so characterized themselves, and (2) assuming that a Hispanic must be incapable of speaking English.
This is becoming an increasing problem, nationwide.
41odanasupertracpak
One would think so.
However, the shooting and killing last week was done because the "non-English speaking immigrant" ran from the police and then attacked them. When cornered he tried to wrestle away the deputy's gun but succeeded in getting his baton and struck the deputy, fracturing the deputy's skull. He was then fatally shot by the deputy and his partner.
I hardly think this was a case of lack of English skills, but it makes a compelling story for the bi-lingual hand-wringers who like to think we should all speak Spanish because a large group of people has shown up who does.
This tragedy was preventable long ago at the Mexican-American border.
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