By Yvonne Wingett, The Arizona Republic
Phoenix’s police officers are going back to school - to learn Arabic.
Adapting to the Valley’s changing population and an increased interaction with Arabic-speaking residents and international visitors, the city is gearing up to meet those demands.
About 60 officers began language and culture classes this week, learning basic greetings, commands and medical terms.
“Since 9/11, with the Islamic community and the Jewish community as well, we’ve increased our interaction for a lot of different reasons,” said T.J. Martin, commander of Phoenix’s Homeland Defense Bureau, which uses city officers. “But really we need to learn about their concerns, their culture and the differences.”
Arabic speakers are requesting city services more than ever and city employees who work in the field are encountering many who are not English-proficient, city officials said. To keep up with the county’s growing Arabic-speaking community, where an estimated 6,200 speak the language at home according to the 2000 Census, it is critical that front-line city employees have the tools to communicate with them, said James May, the city’s deputy personnel director.
Deedra Abboud, director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Arizona, believes it lowers the chances of cultural and linguistic misunderstandings.
“However, if they’re learning it in order to better fight terrorism, that concerns me,” said Abboud, of Phoenix. “Only because that assumes that the only fighting we have to do is among Arabic speakers. That’s not a long-term strategy.”
That’s a valid concern, police said.
But these courses simply are about tearing down cultural barriers through language and awareness workshops, city officials said.
Cities across the Valley have reached out to the Latino community by offering personnel tuition reimbursements and immersion programs to keep up with the county’s 169,000 Spanish speakers.
And thousands of Phoenix police officers and administrators have participated in similar courses, learning Vietnamese, German and even sign language.
Aneesah Nadir, who heads the Islamic Social Services Association in Phoenix, believes the classes will help police build a rapport with the Arabic community.
“We know that when there’s a crisis, that people tend to communicate in their native language,” said Nadir, who works in west Phoenix. “They’re going to revert back to Arabic, or whatever their native language is. In order for the police department and other public servants to do their job effectively, they need to be able to have those language skills.”