RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Officer trains to better serve growing Hispanic community
The class, "Survival Spanish for Street Patrol Officers," was taught by Jose Alentado of Partners In Training (PIT) of Tucson, Ariz. Officers participating learned how to obtain information from Spanish speaking individuals by learning key phrases, including slang words for drugs and weapons. Marshall also learned about the cultural background of the Hispanic community. He and the other students received very detailed instruction of how and why Hispanics say each word the way they do. "The instruction we received actually came in handy for three officers who were attending the class," said Marshall. "During the time I was there, the officers conducted a search warrant and because of some of the instruction they had received recovered a gun used in the shooting of a police officer." "It is our hope that we can bring PIT to Jackson to conduct this course for more of our officers as well as officers from other departments in the area," said Chief Charles Burge. "The Hispanic population in Jackson is definitely growing and it is our goal to find ways to better serve that portion of our community."
Marshall said he feels the training he received will help him tremendously in serving the Hispanic-speaking people who live and work in Jackson. "Before I had this course, I was involved in several situations that were difficult because I knew no Spanish at all," he said. "Now I feel more confident about dealing with such situations."
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
