Area police trying to close communication gap with Hispanics
Posted on Sunday, May 7, 2006
With the area’s Hispanic community growing, law enforcement agencies are making strides toward creating better channels of communication. "We’ve made it to where we always try to have someone on duty who speaks Spanish,"said Cpl. Chris McCarville, public information officer for the Springdale Police Department.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic population for Springdale, Fayetteville and Rogers rose by 802 percent between 1990 and 2000. While Hispanic residents made up about 5 percent of Fayetteville’s population in 2000, they accounted for nearly 20 percent of Springdale’s. Preliminary special census results for Springdale in 2005 reveal that the Hispanic population doubled between 2000 and 2005 and now makes up about a third of the city’s population. "When I first started here 12 years ago, it wasn’t as much of a hardship,"McCarville said. "I think we had one Spanish-speaking officer back then. But now it’s become a big issue and the department’s been very supportive in sending myself and other officers to Spanish classes."
Currently, the Springdale and Fayetteville police departments, as well as the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, each employee about three or four Spanishspeaking officers and detectives. "A wider population of our officers have some basic Spanish-speaking skills,"said Fayetteville Police Sgt. Shannon Gabbard. "[Language barriers] can be an issue sometimes, but we’re usually able to overcome it. We have interpreters that we can call on 24 hours a day if we need to."
Gabbard said Hispanics account for about 5 percent of the people Fayetteville police officers encounter on a day-to-day basis. "Sometimes they may know how to speak English, but pretend they don’t,"he said. "Either way, we find ways to communicate. Right now, we’re in the recruiting process to find more Spanish-speaking employees. We’ve looked toward Spanish-speaking newspapers and other media, but hardly any of them will apply with us."
According to Fayetteville Dispatch Manager Kathy Stocker, dispatch operators use interpreters to translate all foreign-language calls. "It’s a service we pay for through AT&T,"she said. "If someone calls and we can’t understand them, we connect them to the language line. The delay is only a matter of seconds."
Stocker said the police department currently employs one dispatcher who has basic Spanish skills, which is about the same number of Spanishspeaking dispatchers at the Springdale Police Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. "We don’t have enough people that speak the language,"she said. "Plus, with this being a college town, there are a lot of people, besides Hispanics, who don’t speak English."
Of the 428 inmates in the Washington County Jail on Friday, 56 (13 percent) were Hispanic. "It changes all the time — minute by minute,"said Deputy Chief Jay Cantrell of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. "But I’d say that’s about average. In the past, we’ve actually used inmates to translate. Now we have a few Spanishspeaking employees in the jail."
Despite the high numbers of arrests made within the Hispanic community, all officers must adhere to strict policy guidelines regarding racial profiling.
Last year, the Fayetteville Police Department adopted a new racial profiling policy requiring all officers to fully identify themselves when encountering an individual and present written identification when possible. "They pass out ID badges that have their name and badge number,"Gabbard said.
The purpose of the policy is to provide a systematic review process by supervising personnel within a department for investigating allegations of racial profiling. The investigations determine whether any officers have a pattern of stopping or searching people based on race, ethnicity, national origin or religion. Officers found guilty of racial profiling could be subject to disciplinary action.
Gabbard said no Fayetteville police officers have been found guilty of racial profiling.
Springdale Detective Jake Franklin said the relationship between police and the Hispanic community has strengthened in recent years. "In the past, from my personal experience, there was a distrust with the police,"he said. "We used to have a problem with hit-and-run accidents. They’d leave the scene because they thought we’d deport them."
Franklin said officers are not responsible for reporting illegal immigrants. "That’s not our concern,"he said. "That’s immigration services’ job. The only time we’ll ask an individual’s immigration status is if they’ve committed a violent crime.
Franklin said most crimes committed within the Hispanic community are relatively the same as crimes committed by everyone else.
"In my experience, I don’t think we have an increase in Spanish crime, but an increase in Spanish reporting," he said."I think we’re building that trust. "
"Now we have a very good relationship with them. I want them to know that we’re here for them and that we treat everyone the same. I will always help my fellow man — we’re all brothers and sisters."
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
