Document text
SUNNY Temp: 55 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 21, 2002 Medford police officer Willy Rojas, hands raised, acts as a suspect as fellow officers Jim haught, left, and Mike Budreau draw their weapons Friday during a simulation drill to test the officers' ability to deal with Spanish-speaking suspects. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Found in translation Medford police go to extra lengths to bridge gap with Spanish-speaking public By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Guns drawn, three police officers bark orders in Spanish to a man kneeling on the pavement in front of their patrol cars. "No mire!" the officers shout, warning the suspect not to look back at the handguns aimed for his head. The barrel of a pistol pokes from the sleeve of the Hispanic man’s hooded sweatshirt. "Pistola," said Medford officer Mike Budreau. The suspect smiles and holds onto the gun. The barrage of commands stops while officers search their memories for "drop the gun" in Spanish. "They don’t know the command," other officers snicker from the sidewalk as they wait to try their hand at speaking Spanish in a high-stress situation. The "suspect," Medford officer Willy Rojas, is allowed to stand up and forms the center of a circle of officers who rehash the training exercise. Sgt. Chad Teresi said he’s sure Budreau will never forget the phrase "sueltelo!"(drop it). "These things are going to be expected of us in the not too distant future," Teresi said. "We encounter people more and more who don’t speak English, mostly Spanish." For the first time this week Medford police officers practiced their twice-yearly training in high-risk traffic stops while speaking Spanish. Rojas, a Colombian native, introduced the entire Medford force to his language in an April training session. In this week’s training, officers had to prove that listening to Spanish tapes and studying flash cards had paid off. "After we did the first Spanish thing, we found out it has a lot of potential," Rojas said. "Everything we do, we’re going to have to do it eventually in Spanish." High-risk traffic stops were the first on the list. When police have information that a suspect may be armed or dangerous, they approach the suspect’s car with at least three patrol cars. They draw their weapons and give commands to control the situation. But a language barrier complicates the whole process and compromises the safety of both the suspect and officers, said Teresi, who learned Spanish in high school and served as a police officer in Southern California, which has a large Spanish-speaking population. In an emergency, officers can’t flip through 50 flash cards for the right phrase, Teresi said. They just have to practice. A palm-sized cheat sheet of Spanish phrases or a language program that pops up on the officers’ patrol car laptops could provide help in a pinch, Teresi said. "We’re gonna get some messed-up pronunciation and butcher up the language, but if Willy can understand ’em and if I can understand ’em, it’s going to work," he said. "We don’t want it to be mechanical," Rojas said. So officers didn’t know what was coming. The car’s driver sometimes spoke Spanish, at other times, English. Some officers jumped the gun, immediately firing off commands in Spanish to a driver who only spoke English. Spanish and English were heard in rapid succession when the car contained English and Spanish speakers. The pronunciation lacked precision and the grammar wasn’t always impeccable. But police left the session saying they had learned a lot, said training officer Stephanie Smith. Some felt they had much more to learn. "If you’re going to mess up, training’s the best time to do it," said newly recruited officer Tamara Camp, adding that she’d be learning Spanish this year from her seventh-grade nephew. Officers who learn language can earn incentives Several of the valley’s police agencies offer incentive pay for employees fluent in Spanish. Six sworn Medford police officers and one community service officer receive an extra $150 in pay each month for Spanish language skills. Three are native speakers. The city adopted the incentive pay policy in July 2001. Applicants are tested to determine if they can carry on a conversation with a native Spanish speaker. Management staff are not eligible for the extra pay. The Medford Police Department also employs a full-time cultural outreach coordinator, Maria Swann, who serves as a link between the city and the Hispanic community. Talent Police Department and Jackson County Sheriff’s Department employ several full-time officers who earn incentive pay for Spanish language skills. Oregon State Police offers incentive pay to employees fluent in any foreign language, but no bilingual troopers work out of the Central Point office. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S