Discuss the cultural and linguistic barriers to communication in immigrant communities

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Because many immigrants continue to observe the cultural beliefs and practices of their native country after they settle in the United States, officers working in immigrant communities often are confronted with the task of maintaining order and providing protection for groups of people whose behavior and basic values may be unfamiliar to them. In extreme cases, these cultural differences between the police and the communities they serve can lead to serious misunderstandings and accusations of bias or lack of concern. Immigrants who have come to the United States to escape political persecution may, for example, view the police with suspicion based on experiences in their home country. For immigrants from countries where police corruption and malpractice is rife, trusting the police to help them rather than make their problems worse may be extremely difficult. In either case, interactions between these individuals and local police officers are likely to be colored by these beliefs, and possibly fraught with peril as a result.
In addition to the need to be aware of potential cultural differences, the police are also regularly confronted with the problem of language. In an effort to solve this problem, almost every major police department in the United States has, at one time or another, experimented with short language courses for patrol officers. Research has consistently shown, however, that requiring police officers to undergo intensive language training, typically in the form of so-called "crash courses," frequently does little more than provide them with a few key words and phrases. Although useful, knowing how to tell a suspect to "Put your hands up" is unlikely to help an officer whose primary concern is not with asserting authority, but rather with establishing trust. Being able to speak to ethnic minorities and recently arrived immigrants in their own language not only improves the ability of the police to gather information and carry out investigations, but, more importantly, it demonstrates a commitment to the community in question and a willingness to at least try to understand their culture. Furthermore, in many cases linguistic barriers do more than simply make it difficult for officers and minorities to communicate with each other. They also undermine the ability of the police officer to assert his authority through the use of spoken commands and gestures.