Washington State Human Rights Commission

State of Washington
Human Rights Commission
711 South Capitol Way, Ste. 402
PO Box 42490
Olympia, WA 98504-2490
360-753-6770
1-800-233-3247
FAX 360-586-2282
www.hum.wa.gov

Don Pierce, Executive Director
Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
3060 Willamette Dr. NE Suite 200
Lacey, WA 98516

It’s been awhile since we communicated. Since we met and you kindly distributed to the WASPC membership our information on people with disabilities and service animals, we’ve held a number of public forums around the state. At some of these, issues involving police and sheriffs have arisen. One of the issues involves law enforcement interaction with people who are limited English proficient, that is to say, who don’t speak English, or speak little English. Most of such people in the State of Washington speak Spanish. There is a growing number and percent of LEP people in the State. There are many challenges in policing a society growing more culturally, racially, ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. I am providing some information from the U.S. Department of Justice and other sources, which could be helpful in dealing with these challenges.

The International Hispanic Network has also noted in its report, “Municipal Best Practices For Hispanic Community,” “Language barriers exist in police departments, affecting relationships with Hispanics. This will continue to be a critical roadblock in establishing community policing efforts within Hispanic communities.” The level of trust in the police—any police in any city or county—is far lower among historically disadvantaged minority groups than it is among Anglos.
We know too well that police can be a target for accusations of racism. This is a fact of life and the nature of the business. However, regardless of the accuracy of the charges, even the perception that police are biased can lead to serious consequences in the larger community. How the police respond can make a great deal of difference in gaining trust and in effectiveness. The more successful law enforcement agencies genuinely try to work with minority communities, to provide anti-racism training to police officers, and to enforce penalties for any breaches that may occur. People are less likely to cooperate with people they mistrust and may develop doubts about all aspects of the criminal justice system. Individuals with these perceptions may respond inappropriately to law enforcement officers out of mistrust or may retaliate for past-perceived injustices. Situations may therefore escalate unnecessarily, putting both the resident and the officer at risk of injury. Safety concerns for officers and community members may be increased in hostile environments.
The Washington State Human Rights Commission enforces the Washington Law Against Discrimination, RCW 49.60, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in employment, housing, and public accommodations. We do not assert jurisdiction over police departments when they make discretionary judgments under local and state statutes. However, our RCW requires us to “To foster good relations between minority and majority population groups of the state through seminars, conferences, educational programs, and other intergroup relations activities.”

In addition to the attached information from the U.S. Department of Justice and the material on minority recruiting for police departments, we also recommend the following actions to improve protection of and service to the growing Latino population of the State:

+ “Criminal Laws of Washington 101” courses for those newly arrived in the United States. Such an approach has been used in Colorado, and resulted in decreases in DUI and domestic violence citations and arrests. One aspect of community policing is to conduct activities with residents, including the introduction of domestic violence prevention and intervention programs. Efforts like these help build relationships between residents and police officers and ultimately reduce crime. The Fife Police Department presents some very positive iterations along these lines, with the Fife Latino community, which is showing good results.

+ In larger departments and those with substantial Latino populations, consider appointing a Latino liaison officer as a full-time position.

+ Greater recruitment and hiring of Spanish-speaking officers. Ideally, police department personnel should reflect the demographic makeup of the community served. Typically, minority residents say things such as, “If a person whom we grew up with became a policeman, he/she would be shown…a greater respect because we know where he/she came from, we know where he’d been, and we know he strove to be in the position he was in.”

+ Use of phrase books with the most commonly needed questions, instructions, and terms in Spanish for officers to use when interacting with Spanish speakers.
+ Translation of documents that members of the public will use. Another idea is development of a community video that explains and presents the different cultural perspectives and homeland experiences with police. Voiceovers and subtitles can be done in a variety of languages. A good idea is Bilingual Television Call-In Shows that highlight different minority communities and specific issues of concern for each community group.
+ Cultural competence and cultural sensitivity training. Part of the fundamental theory underlying community policing requires that police understand both the residents within the community and foster relationships with Hispanic community leaders. Police can work with minority residents to identify issues and effective strategies to balance crime control with proactive interactions with residents. For example, please see the attached “Hispanic Robbery Initiative” model. Police in Charlotte, North Carolina initiated discussions with the Mexican consulate and local banks to persuade recent Mexican immigrants to use secure financial services for bank and checking accounts, wire transfers, and so forth, in order to reduce the amount of cash carried by—and stolen from—immigrants. The police recognized that a lack of trust and understanding of U.S. financial institutions discouraged recent immigrants from adopting safer and less expensive financial practices and further recognized that the consulate and banks were better positioned to convey this message to immigrants than were the police.

+ While there is much debate as to whether racial and national origin profiling in traffic stops by police takes place, many minority men believe it does. It therefore behooves police departments to study the perceptions of racial and national origin minority groups about their treatment by the police. The possibility that bias may exist, and the very real fact that innocent persons can and will be stopped by police, even as part of legitimate police duties, make protection against biased-based profiling an important responsibility for any police department. The Chief of Police of Riverside, California, stated in Racial Profiling: A Police Manager's Perspective, “Whether racial profiling by police officers is a matter of perception or reality loses significance when considering the widespread public belief in its existence and subsequent liability for law enforcement agencies that encounter allegations of racial profiling...To restore public trust and improve community/police relationships, law enforcement agencies must address both the concerns of the community at large that are relevant to discriminatory policing, and the allegations of racial profiling made by ordinary citizens.”

+ Police sponsorship of youth activities and other proactive rather than reactive approaches to providing alternatives to gang activities.

+ Form community partnership groups. Include youth, minority group representatives, civic and/or church representatives as well as political allies to work on civic concerns together.

+ Chiefs can build community awareness and support for recruiting by speaking at community groups, schools, churches and service organizations. These organizations can be excellent resources for demonstrating the department’s service commitment to the community and can be an effective avenue for reaching minority groups in the community. One best practice is to establish a Race Relations Council with facilitated discussions.

+ Consider an approach to provide members of the public a fair hearing on grievances related to police practices, such as offices of professional responsibility, civilian police review boards, community oversight panels, and ombudspeople.

+ Although we do not want to appear to be interfering with police law enforcement activities and federal law enforcement, nevertheless, from the standpoint of relations with our protected classes, we feel it would be best if police and sheriffs departments did not provide unnecessary information or referrals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It appears to the people who come to us for assistance that there are enough crimes against persons and property in the Hispanic community to fully engage the need for police protection, without police attempting to enforce federal immigration law. In general, a police officer should not ask a person about his or her immigration status.

The public calls upon the police to respond to an astounding range of problems and to perform an extraordinary diversity of tasks, all the while assuming that police have the expertise and resources to do so. Federal immigration law enforcement is one responsibility that does not need to be undertaken by local police, because the federal government is already charged with that task. It is not an orphan law enforcement task for which no one else takes responsibility. As the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services has stated in its publication, “Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems,” “Many police agencies find themselves performing a variety of duties that have little to do with their core functions.” On the other hand, protecting and serving the community, regardless of race or ethnicity, is a core function.

Certainly some police and sheriff’s departments are very likely implementing these recommendations and others with the same objectives. We have heard enough concerns during our city visits, that we felt we should reflect these current concerns to you and share models and materials which could be helpful to both our lines of work.

Thank you for your consideration of these thoughts. We would appreciate your distributing them and the attached materials to WASPC members. They are available electronically if that would be more convenient for distribution or posting on a website. Please let me know if you have any questions, or need further information, or would like me to attend a WASPC meeting to discuss these issues further.

Minority Recruiting for Police Departments
USDOJ Sample LEP Plan for a Police Department
USDOJ Plan for LEP Services
Hispanic Robbery Initiative

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