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Bilingual firefighters get bonus
Police officers who know 2nd language also receive pay hike

By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News
June 30, 2005

Denver Fire Chief Larry Trujillo went back to college recently to take a Spanish test.

Trujillo was one of a dozen Denver firefighters at Metropolitan State College of Denver taking the test last weekend. The chief passed, but it wasn't easy, he sai.

"I'm definitely not fluent," he said. His parents spoke Spanish, but at home the kids spoke English. What Spanish he knows, he picked up in school.

"I speak it just well enough to get in trouble," he joked.

The chief is hoping other firefighters take advantage of a provision in their contract that rewards a $100-a-month pay increase if they can speak a second language. To be certified, they have to pass the Metro test. The program started last weekend.

"I think Denver is very forward-looking in this regard," said David Conde, an assistant vice president for academic affairs, who oversees the testing program.

The test is designed to show proficiency in speaking a second language, especially during an emergency situation, Conde said. The officers have to pass an oral test as well as complete an exercise on the computer.

It is a similar program to one undertaken by the Denver Police Department in 2001.

Since then, about 140 police officers have been certified in 10 languages, including sign language, said police spokeswoman Teresa Garcia. The department has 1,414 officers.

Depending on skill levels, officers can be paid incentives ranging from $100 to $200 per month.

The second-language skills came in handy in May, when about 25 Spanish-speaking officers were called to interview witnesses to a shooting in which Detective Donald Young was killed and Detective John Bishop was wounded.

Testing firefighters for a second language was postponed last year while the city averted a budget shortfall. The city currently has about $235,000 budgeted for the police department's second-language officers, and for testing.

There is no cap on the number of firefighters who can take part, but the size of the program is subject to the discretion of the chief.

Zac Bousman, a firefighter at Station 23 at West Kentucky Avenue and Federal Boulevard, was among the first firefighters to take the test.

"I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but it felt like it was geared to what we use," Bousman said after passing the test.

Bousman had a few years of high school Spanish plus some courses at Colorado Free University when he joined the department about 6 1/2 years ago.

At one point, he made flash cards with useful expressions for medical emergency calls. He has seen relief in people's faces after a few words in Spanish.

"You just see a weight off their shoulders, that they know what's going on," he said.

That's what Trujillo said he wants to see happen.

"Obviously, being able to communicate with the people we serve is important," he said. "If we can't communicate . . . we're not doing the best job we can."

Incentives

$100 per month: Pay increase Denver firefighters receive if they can speak a second language and pass a certification test.

$100 to $200 per month: Pay incentives police officers get for speaking a second language, depending on skill levels.

140: Approximate number of police officers who have been certified, out of 1,414.