Can you imagine calling 911 and hearing "Lo sentimos Aquí nadie habla Inglés" (I'm sorry no one here speaks english)?
That is what the boyfriend of one of Marcus Jackson's victims heard when he called 911 to report his girlfriend was being attacked.
I'm no fan of illegal immigrants, and think everyone should speak English, but I'm also smart enough to know that a good number of people in Charlotte don't speak English very well.
But I'm shocked to learn that no one at CMPD's 911 speaks Spanish and that we have some antiquated translator service we use to converse with Spanish victims of crime. A service that requires the 911 operator to provide a code number, business name, language to be translated and ask a another three or four questions only to exchange some idiot pleasantries before the caller can explain that his girlfriend is being attacked. Read the transcript here.
I am just blown away to learn that we don't have at least one fluent bi-lingual 911 Operator on duty at all times and that we use some "for hire" contracted translator service that has not a clue as to what information we need to get from the victim.
It is just nuts in a city the size of Charlotte, the cops have take home cars, command staff gets new fancy uniforms and Rodney Monroe throws a $29,000.00 Christmas party but we don't have money in the budget to train our 911 operators to speak a second language.
5 comments:
If the International Relations Unit still existed, this problem could be resolved or it would've been handled differently.
But why don't they exist anymore? Hmmmm....
No surprise there Cedar RoMo doesn't speak spanish and you should see the way he treats those who do. It ain't pretty.
The turnover in the dispatch unit is pretty high. The pay is low even with incentive pay for knowing more languages. Getting a bi-lingual dispatcher hired and then having them stay around more than a year is rare.
Yeah, didn't he do away with the international relations unit? How's that for gaing the publics trust. I guess he had to free up some money somewhere to pay for all the newly created jobs he made b/c he is incompetent to do his own job.
I bet you anything the chief has a command staff member in charge of monitoring this site. Tax payers dollars at work.
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