Thread: ESCONDIDO POLICE TO GET FREE SPANISH LESSONS

Escondido police to get free Spanish lessons


By: SHAYNA CHABNER - Staff Writer

Goal is for officers to reach out to growing Latino population

ESCONDIDO, CALIFORNIA -- Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said Monday he wants at least half of the department's force to speak and understand Spanish as a way to improve communications with the city's growing Latino population.

"I think it just makes sense that when a great part of the population you deal with speaks Spanish ... that we have officers that are able to communicate in their language," Maher said, noting that there are some 200 officers, volunteers and dispatchers who deal with the public on a daily basis. "It makes us more efficient."

To increase the number of Spanish-speaking officers and other employees, the department has formed a partnership with the Escondido Adult School in which an instructor from the school will teach free beginning and intermediate/advanced Spanish language classes to police and civilian staff on a weekly basis.

The classes will be offered to employees four nights a week and will focus on vocabulary and conversations that relate to on-the-job duties and responsibilities. Patrol, traffic and community officers who have volunteered already will be among the department's first employees to take the classes, Maher said.

"We hope to get to everyone who is interested in training," he said.

Maher added that officers who speak Spanish assume a disproportionate amount of the workload because they're asked to respond to situations involving Latinos, even if they're out of the area.

Of the department's 165 officers, 11 have passed a Spanish language exam that makes them certified Spanish speakers, he said. Maher's goal is to help at least 50 percent of the officers and other employees in the department to pass the certification exam, which also qualifies employees for $200 extra a month in pay.

The Spanish classes will begin next month and continue for as long as it takes the department to reach its 50 percent goal, he said. An instructor from the adult school is expected to begin interviewing and shadowing police officers in the coming weeks to develop the curriculum.

The partnership, which was approved by trustees for the Escondido Union High School District last week, is a first for both the department and the district.

About 61,000 people, or 43 percent of the city's nearly 140,800 residents, are Latino, according to 2006 statistics from the San Diego Association of Governments. That's the most recent year in which population information for the city was available.

While it was not clear how many of those residents speak Spanish only, some community activists said Monday they estimate that more than half of the city's adult Latinos are bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish.

"It's an amazing idea because now it's going to be a lot easier for them to understand what is going on and to talk to people," said Danny Perez, a Latino activist in the community. "In this community it's imperative that every person be bilingual."

Bill Flores, a spokesman for El Grupo, a coalition of local Latino and civil rights organizations, agreed.

He added, though, that the Spanish language courses are only one step in the right direction for a department that has butted heads with the Latino community over monthly driver's license checkpoints and sweeps to catch criminals who are illegal immigrants.

"In order to have a meaningful repair to the damaged relationship, they have got to change some of those polices," Flores said. "But, it's a good thing for officers to speak Spanish. ... And if they are offering these lessons to officers for free, kudos to them."

Under the agreement, the police department is responsible for covering the cost of classroom materials and books, not to exceed $1,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30 and $2,500 for every year after.

In return for providing instructors and classroom space, the Adult School will collect state revenues for attendance. The Adult School, which is financially independent from the sponsoring high school district, is funded based on the number of hours students are in state-required classes.

Adult School Principal Dom Gagliardi said Monday that he was happy to develop the partnership with the department because it allows the school to grow its enrollment base and serve the community.

"There is an obvious, established need in the community (for bilingual education)," he said. "We are just trying to meet that need."

-- Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02 ... ogcomments

"In this community it's imperative that every person be bilingual."

Ya....learn English and you'd be bi-lingual. Try it.
Spanish isn't the only other language spoken here.

Comments On This Story

Note: Comments reflect the views of readers and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff.

jfc wrote on Feb 26, 2008 4:20 AM:
If the Latino population was comprised of legal inmmigrants, the emphasis would be on teaching English. If I were Latino, I would be extremely embarrassed. The hidden message is that there is an imbalance in intelligence levels. It is easier to teach Spanish to native English speakers than it is to teach English to those who choose not to bother to assimilate. Dumbing down is a sad statement of the situation in which we find ourselves.

Hey wrote on Feb 26, 2008 6:24 AM:
doesn't Escondido have free learning English classes on television? This seems as a duplicate waste of effort. The Latinos are already learning English. Now that the govenment is heading if not already in a recession, we need to be saving money where ever we can.

Skip wrote on Feb 26, 2008 6:28 AM:
Gee ..... How hard is it to say "Do You have a Driver's License?" in Spanish.

Al wrote on Feb 26, 2008 6:33 AM:
That to me is just BS. Because we have all of these people living among us who refuse to learn OUR LANGUAGE, we have to learn their language. With that attitude, our police may need to know five, six or even seven languages in the future. Where does it end? I think it ends here and now. Speak English or go back to your country or origin. It's that simple!

Skip wrote on Feb 26, 2008 6:39 AM:
RE: sdraoul wrote on Feb 24, 2008 9:24 PM: How much did it cost Escondido to "round-up" 15 formerly deported illegals? >>> Here is the real question. How much is it going to cost Escondido to pay for 50% of its Police Department and other employees at $200 a month, per person year after year to speak Spanish in America, to mostly Illegal Aliens who have no right to be here in the first place. Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to ramp up the deportations and let's say deport 50% of the Illegal Aliens? My rough numbers indicate at 100 people per year, at an extra $200 per month come to about $240,000 is increased costs. This is insane. Only in America. Oh by the way that is about a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS, if they get 50% plus others.

LisaP wrote on Feb 26, 2008 6:41 AM:
If I moved to Mexcio I would not expect to see police who speak English, or to be taught in English at Mexican schools, or to be able to take a driver's license test in English. We need to stop pandering to imigrants and make them speak our language, which is still English.

Syl wrote on Feb 26, 2008 6:44 AM:
Is the word "LATINO" being used as a codeword for "Illegal Alien", again.

And will someone please explain what is "free" about an extra city cost of $200 per month, per person, to speak a foreign language in America?

Nutz wrote on Feb 26, 2008 6:50 AM:
What about free English lessons for the thousands of residents that don't feel the need to speak the predominate language of the country they have decided to illegally take over?

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