Editor’s Note: This week’s essay comes from PoliceOne Member Jon Felperin, a longtime member who now resides south of the border. In PoliceOne “First Person” essays, our Members and Columnists candidly share their own unique view of the world. This is a platform from which individual officers can share their own personal insights on issues confronting cops today, as well as opinions, observations, and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. If you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members, simply send us an e-mail with your story.
By Jon Felperin
Police1 Member
The good news is that law enforcement in Mexico is changing and getting better. The bad news is that it isn’t improving fast enough!
According to the US State Department in its June 2012 report on Trafficking in Persons, “Mexico is considered a “Tier 2” country, a large source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.
The vast majority of foreign victims in forced labor and sexual servitude in Mexico are from Central and South America, particularly Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The Government of Mexico does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking — hence, Tier 2 status — however, it is making significant efforts to do so.
During the reporting period, Mexican authorities passed constitutional reforms on trafficking, strengthened training and awareness efforts, and significantly increased trafficking convictions at both the federal and state level.
‘Trafficking in persons’ and ‘human trafficking’ have been used as umbrella terms for the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.”
And as a transit country into the United States, Mexico’s problems have become US law enforcement’s concerns. It is difficult enough to deal with drug smuggling let alone distinguishing among alien smuggling, prostitution or other human trafficking offenses. Sadly, many of these situations can also quickly become personal safety challenges if misread by a responding officer.
For starters, a basic understanding of Spanish should be considered part of officer safety now even though it currently isn’t; for not being able to communicate sufficiently to verify a story, or pick up on something strange, can at best hinder one’s efforts and at worst, put you at risk.
There are many good reasons to learn a foreign language. For a law enforcement officer, not the least of which is that bilingual pay can add thousands of dollars a year to your compensation!
Even though some say Chinese is the language of the future, Spanish today is definitely the language of choice for law enforcement.
For some, knowing Spanish can also mean a preferred assignment or preferential hiring. And to others, just being the go-to guy or gal for interpreting or translation can be its own reward.
However, let’s address the issue of whether one should actually put out the effort to learn a second language? Or if by learning Spanish we, ourselves, are enabling foreigners to not learn English?
The obvious reply is that a lack of Spanish ability in many districts is a real officer safety issue not just an immigration debate. We can also choose not to practice defensive tactics or shooting but where does that get us? And there are officers out there who don’t do much of either, anyway.
We admonish those who don’t practice by saying one day it will catch up with them. They had better begin practicing realistically or will some day be sorry.
But beyond the practical is the pragmatic, and a real case can now be made that in 2012, a functional ability in Spanish is an officer safety issue, not just a plus.
The good news is that it is easier to learn to understand a language than it is to speak it — to practice listening to Spanish one doesn’t need to study grammar.
As in most police contacts, particularly high risk ones, not a lot is said. But understanding what suspects are saying to each other could literally save your life.
If you are reading this article on Police1.com, you already have all the resources you need to learn Spanish for free. The National Institute of Justice offers a free Spanish course for law enforcement. Here you can learn basic vocabulary and common expressions in street situations, related to the job.
From there you could delve into Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish. The advantage of this program is that is covers several different Spanish accents (Spain, Argentina, Puerto Rica and Mexico). Think about how people speaking English sound. Not all are the same, or even that similar, right? People from England, Ireland, or Scotland, Australia or Jamaica all speak English. Can you tell them apart? Could it help you to be able to?
Being able to discern an accent may tell you where the person is from and the people he or she is with. One would expect to hear similar accents among group members. If that is not the case, it may be a telling sign.
And that information can be of value in a preliminary investigation when communication is difficult.
If one wants practice using the language, it is possible now to do this for free online at www.busuu.com or www.livemocha.com , two popular language exchange sites. However, if there is a real need to use Spanish in your area, there should already be plenty of people with whom to practice.
Finally, culture can never be separated from language. Make it a point to learn the cultural differences of a few of the Spanish-speaking groups in your area (consult www.wikipedia.org). Sixty pecent of the Hispanic population in the US is of Mexican origin; but in some regions of the country, such as New York, Washington DC or Florida, Salvadorans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans or Ecuadorians are in greater numbers. Not only can this information make you safer, it can also make you more responsive to your community.
About the Author
Jon Felperin is an educator, martial arts instructor, and police trainer based in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. He can be reached via email at jfelperin123 @yahoo.com.
