Survey – Should more police officers be able to speak and understand Spanish?
March 6th, 2010 | 
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Joe L asked:
I’m doing a paper for my criminal justice class and I need to know what people think about a program that I am developing.
I’m doing a paper for my criminal justice class and I need to know what people think about a program that I am developing.
1. Do you think it is important that at least 1 in 4 of your police officers are able to speak and understand Spanish?
2. Would you agree with a program that offers incentives ($100 each week, or $5,000 per year) to police officers who learn to speak Spanish or already speak it?
Any other opinions?
Thank you, much appreciated
C – I agree but my paper is just relating to Hispanic populations. Even though there are a lot of Portuguese speakers, do you think that 1 in 4 is enough for Spanish speaking police officers? Too much?
C – I agree but my paper is just on Spanish speakers. So even though there are more Portuguese speakers, do you think that 1 in 4 police officers who speak Spanish is enough? Too much?
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Honestly, Spanish speaking people need to learn English before moving to America. This would eliminate the whole problem.
But, since that’s not the case, I think 1 in 4 should know Spanish, but the incentive program is bogus. In states that border Mexico, it should just be considered part of the job.
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1 in 4? Not in most areas. For example, there are very few Spanish speakers in my area who don’t speak English.
Having bilingual officers (in a variety of languages) is a good investment.
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Well with that argument they should also speak portugese, italian, russian, chinese, etc. I think it is helpful if they know more languages other than english. It is important not to know spanish but to know a language that is popular in their area. In my state portugese (which is not at all the same as spanish) more people seem to speak it than spanish. So a cop knowing spanish wouldnt help them in many towns in my state.
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I do think it is important to have officers who are able to communicate with people who do not speak English, but I do not feel that the only language encouraged should be Spanish. I think current usage of translation lines is not enough, but it is better than nothing.
I would not agree with a program of incentives for Spanish speaking officers. I believe that it would be much more beneficial to develop a program for the departments to cover the costs of taking foreign language courses rather than paying the individual officer more.
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It would be wise that all police officer learn to speak Spanish, it could be a matter of life or deaf. My ability to understand just a little bit of Spanish, saved me from being assaulted and possibly murdered!