Thread: Infux Of Spanish-Speaking Immigrants

http://www.wlky.com/news/9389644/detail.html

Infux Of Spanish-Speaking Immigrants Leaves Indiana Police In Quandary

POSTED: 8:21 am EDT June 19, 2006

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- An influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants has southern Indiana police scrambling to find officers fluent in Spanish who can overcome the language barrier.

Despite aggressive recruiting efforts, however, local police aren't having much luck recruiting bilingual officers, in part because they are competing for bilingual Hispanics who are in high demand in the private sector.

Currently, only one of the roughly 285 officers on the Evansville Police Department is fluent in Spanish.

The department has tried for years to recruit more Hispanic officers by sending recruiters to minority churches and traveling to job fairs as far away as Ohio - without much success.

Juana Watson is the governor's director for Hispanic outreach. She said the demand for bilingual Hispanics is great in both the private and public work force.

What they should really say is they are having a huge influx of Spanish speaking criminals.