Chief Charles H. Ramsey
Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, DC
At the public forum on criminal justice that you convened last week, I talked a bit about the philosophy and framework for community policing in the District of Columbia. One of the points I made is that the success of community policing depends, in large measure, on the trust and confidence that are created between the police and the community. This is true in every neighborhood, and among residents of all racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
Still, I recognize—as you do—that there are special challenges we face in providing police services and implementing community policing in our Latino communities. One of the primary challenges involves language barriers—which is a matter I will address a little later in my comments. But some of the challenges we face are even more fundamental and deeply rooted.
For some people in the Latino community—in particular, for many newly arrived immigrants—their feelings toward the police have been shaped by their experiences in other nations, operating under completely different systems of justice. As you might imagine, many of these individuals arrive in our nation with almost no faith in the police. This, in turn, creates tremendous challenges for police departments in every city.
Even among those Latino citizens who have been in the United States for generations, attitudes toward the police have been shaped by their own experiences and those of their friends and family members. To the extent that these experiences have not always been positive—and in many cases, historically, they were not positive—their level of trust in the police has been eroded as well. It is against this backdrop that the Metropolitan Police Department is working to implement community policing and provide quality police services in our Latino communities.
I recognize that achieving this goal will require more than quick-fixes and band-aid approaches. It will take an ongoing dialogue between police officers and community leaders and members ... and a lot of hard work by all parties involved. This dialogue must begin at the top of our organization.
As Chief, I have insisted that the Latino community be represented on my Citizens’ Advisory Council. Mr. Mario Acosta-Velez, Executive Director of the Latino Civil Rights Center, is one of the most active members of my CAC. Recently, Mr. Luis Cardona, of the DC Community Prevention Partnership, also joined my Advisory Council ... bringing even broader experiences and perspectives to this important body. This high-level partnership between the Metropolitan Police Department and the leadership of the Latino community is critical. It ensures that my command staff and I are kept informed of the concerns of this unique and diverse constituency.
But the real heart and soul of community policing are found not in the Chief’s office or even at the district station ... but rather out on the streets, in the community. It is the day-to-day contact between police officers and residents that is critical to building the confidence and trust I mentioned earlier. For many people in the Latino community, this process starts with our being able to communicate in the language they speak. We have done a good job, I think, in how we handle emergency calls for service in Spanish.
We currently employ about half a dozen bilingual—English and Spanish—call-takers in our Communications Center. They represent our first option for Spanish-speaking callers to 9-1-1 or to our non- emergency number ... 727-1010. If none of these operators is available, we immediately connect the caller with the AT&T Language Line, which provides translators in more than 100 different languages and dialects. Those translators stay on the line and ensure that all pertinent information is received from the caller.
A bigger challenge, for us, is having personnel out in the field who are bilingual—and can communicate easily and effectively with our Spanish-speaking customers. Currently, the Department does not maintain reliable information on the number of officers who speak Spanish—or any other language—fluently.
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