NOPD BUILDING TEAM OF BILINGUAL OFFICERS TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION WITH LIMITED ENGLISH SPEAKING COMMUNITIES
Program is part of on-going effort to continue to build trust between the community and police
NEW ORLEANS—For the first time in the history of the
department, the NOPD is building a team of bilingual officers to improve communication
and strengthen relationships with limited English speaking communities across
the city. This week, the Civil Service Department, in partnership with a local registered interpreter, is holding the first certification exam for
Spanish-speaking officers. Exams for additional languages, including
Vietnamese, are expected to follow. Once certified, officers will be eligible
to earn a five percent pay increase for using their language skills on the job.
Officers serving as bilingual officers will be assigned to police districts
across the city and will be called on to communicate in the field with limited
English speaking residents and visitors who interact with police.
Learn more about the New Orleans Welcoming City initiative
“Overcoming language barriers in the field is a major win
for our officers and members of our limited English speaking communities.
That’s why we’re working diligently to create a comprehensive solution that
will improve language access for all communities across the department,” said
NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison. “This team of certified bilingual officers will
allow our officers to do their jobs safely and effectively. At the same time,
it will build trust between police and limited English speaking residents and
visitors. They will be more likely to report a crime and participate in police
investigations.”
In addition to the certified bilingual officer program, the NOPD
has taken significant steps to improve language access for non-English speaking
residents and visitors who interact with police since Chief Harrison started in
2014, including:
Equipping officers with translation devices in the field
- Electronic Translators, known as Enabling Language Service Anywhere (ELSA) devices, are available in all eight
police districts in the city.
- With the push of a button, officers who need translation
services quickly can connect to a live language interpreter through a wireless
network in more than 180 languages and dialects.
- The devices are available to officers 24/7.
Tracking information
on victims and offenders who need language assistance
- The Electronic Police Reporting (EPR) system includes a
checkbox for officers to note whether each individual victim and/or offender
had limited English proficiency.
- The report also gives the responding officer an opportunity
to indicate the language spoken by the individual as well as the language
access accommodations made.
- This enables NOPD to hold itself accountable for providing
proper language access to community members by documenting all actions taken to
accommodate limited English speakers.
Translating public information in other languages at NOPD
facilities
- Each police district, and other public facilities including
City Hall, has information on the Consent Decree as well as how to report
complaints against the police publicly available in Spanish and Vietnamese
versions.
- The NOPD is also partnering with Loyola University to begin
translating NOPD forms and documents for victims with limited-English
capabilities.
Training new recruits on interacting with the
Spanish-speaking community
- All new NOPD recruits receive a week-long training on
interacting with the Spanish-speaking community. The training includes commonly
used phrases and skills on how to build trust within the community when
responding to calls for service.
Aggressively recruiting bilingual police officers
- As part of the on-going “Get Behind the Badge” campaign, the
department targets local and regional Spanish and Vietnamese media outlets and
runs advertisements in both languages to attract more bilingual officers to the
force.
- The effort is showing early signs of success as more than
10% of the past two recruit classes were Hispanic recruits.
Revised bias-free immigration policy focuses on protecting
public safety and building community trust
This month, the NOPD finalized a revised policy on how
officers must address immigration status when providing police services to
individuals across the city. The updated policy establishes a clear set of
guidelines for officers that focus on protecting public safety and building
trust between the community and the NOPD. The Department of Justice and the
federal Consent Decree Monitor have approved the revised policy.
Read the updated policy Chapter 41.6.1
Chief Harrison added, “The NOPD’s primary mission is to make
our city safe, and this policy directs our officers to focus on public safety
for everyone in our city and aims to improve the relationship between officers
and the community. At the same time, any person in the city of New Orleans who
commits a crime will be held accountable by our criminal justice system. If you
break the law, you will face consequences.”
"The new Immigration Status policy is a positive
step forward in creating better relations and restoring trust between the NOPD
and the immigrant community in New Orleans," said Santos Alvarado, founding member, Congress of Day Laborers. "We are not asking for
preferential treatment, only for equal treatment regardless of the color of our
skin or our country of origin, and this policy moves us in the right direction.
We know this policy is the right path forward to a more inclusive and safer
community for everyone."
Training on the new policy will begin immediately at roll
calls throughout police districts as well as through daily training briefings
through the NOPD Compliance Bureau. It will become effective on Sunday,
February 28.
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