By Police1 Staff
BOISE, Idaho — A group of about 50 Boise police officers completed the first offered Spanish course by their department.
According to local news station KIVI-TV, the curriculum focuses on conversational Spanish but also went into legal terms for officers.
With the Spanish-speaking population on the rise, more officers are learning the language to assist victims of local emergencies.
“It’s just another tool for us in our belt that we can use whenever we come up to an emergency situation,” said Boise Police Officer Ed Moreno.
With more department staff able to communicate in Spanish, the goal is to stop relying on staff who already know Spanish to communicate with the community.
“We are initiating mandatory training within our training academy for brand new officers, but everybody here is somebody who signed up because they wanted to learn,” said Chief Bill Bones. “The Latino population is the fastest growing population in the state.”