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Posted on Sat, Oct. 08, 2005

BRIDGING THE GAP

By HongDao Nguyen

Mercury News


East Palo Alto police officer David Carson remembers the older woman standing outside the police tape with a worried look on her face. She spoke Spanish; he didn't.

For 20 minutes, police were getting nowhere investigating a shooting until a Spanish-speaking officer arrived and discovered the woman had witnessed it.

``She was more than willing to help,'' Carson said, ``but there was a language barrier.''

This week, East Palo Alto police took a step in bridging that communication gap. Police Chief Ron Davis and about a dozen officers attended the first in a series of Spanish classes targeted specifically at law enforcement officers. The 10-week program won't make them fluent -- only about 16 percent of the department's officers speak Spanish -- but it should teach them enough to give simple commands, conduct a traffic stop and even dish out some Spanish slang.

``I think it's key,'' said Leonardo Huerta, the president of Comité Latino, a social organization in East Palo Alto. ``The people will be able to communicate their issues.''

Many police departments offer language or cultural awareness courses to officers. The San Jose Police Department began in-house Spanish language training for all its academy graduates this year, and Alejandra Gomez, East Palo Alto's course instructor, has taught officers from Salinas to Redwood City.

Demographic shift

But in East Palo Alto, where the population has shifted from predominantly African-American English speakers to a roughly 60 percent Latino community, it's especially important for officers to know some Spanish, police said.

On Thursday, the officers sat through Gomez's first class -- a far stretch from a typical high school Spanish period. Mexican-born Gomez used bottles of tequila, beer and a box of cigarettes as props for the cops.

Besides the more orthodox ``Tu nombre, por favor,'' or ``Your name, please,'' Gomez pointed her index finger and thumb out and told officers to say ``pistola.'' When she stuck two fingers to her nostrils and took a hard sniff, she asked police to say ``cocaina.''

At the end of 30 hours, officers won't be able to conduct detailed interviews in Spanish, Gomez said, but ``they will be able to communicate with a citizen on the street and provide help. That wall of fear will disappear.''

Interspersed in the language training, Gomez noted cultural differences. For example, officers should address adults using the more formal word for ``your,'' or ``su,'' instead of the more informal ``tu,'' she said.

``That's the way police talk to people in Latin America, which is condescending,'' she said. ``We want to reverse that.''

Two years ago, East Palo Alto police received Gomez's three-hour basic Spanish language training when One East Palo Alto, a local non-profit organization, gave the department a grant to pay for the course. But Lt. Rahn Sibley, who's in charge of officer training, said the idea of offering a more intensive course has been kicked around for a decade.

Even before Davis was sworn in 4 1/2 months ago as chief, he said he pondered how the department could address the Latino community's needs. On Thursday he was a pupil in the first class where the students learned how to say ``the chief'' in Spanish, or ``el jefe.''

Each 10-week course will cost the department $4,500 from its $46,000 training budget, and the classes are mandatory for all non-Spanish-speaking police officers.

Miscommunication stemming from language barriers leads to frustrated officers and community members, Davis said. But he hopes the officers' new language skills will build trust between the two.

``My philosophy is not to be reactive and wait for an incident to drive you, but to be proactive,'' he said.

Of the 37 officers working in the department, six officers speak Spanish. In San Jose, about 19 percent of the officers are certified Spanish-speakers.

East Palo Alto officers who don't speak Spanish said they dial into the department for a Spanish translator when they can't understand someone in the Latino community, or find someone to translate for them on the spot. Officers also said they use Spanglish -- a mix of English and Spanish -- or sign language to get their point across.

Never too late

But it's not enough, said John Wohler, an East Palo Alto school resource police officer.

``You can get general information but specifics are tough,'' he said.

Wohler and community members have said the language skills class has been needed for years.

Vice Mayor Ruben Abrica said shortly after Davis was sworn as chief, Foro Latino, an informal group that meets monthly, invited Davis to speak to the group.

People asked all kinds of questions, Abrica said, including ``How many people speak Spanish in the department,'' and ``Are you going to get more of them?''

The language training needed to have been offered a long time ago, Abrica said, but ``it's never too late to improve.''