Thelma Barone knows firsthand how difficult it can be for some immigrants to understand the United States' criminal-justice system.
Barone, a University of California Los Angeles graduate who immigrated from northwest Mexico to Southern California at the age of 21 works as a community service officer for the Springfield Police Department. The bulk of her duties involved acting as a liaison between the department in the city's Hispanic population.
" Nowadays, it's Barone's job to teach Spanish speakers how the system works, and ensure they get the attention they need from local law enforcement. "
According to the 2000 census, it is estimated that 3600 people or 6.9% of the city's population is Hispanic.
Barone, was hired in 2003, the balk of her salary and benefits comes from grant funding from the state. To fund the position, the budget committee would have to come up with about $70,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
" "Whenever I go out, they always have so many questions for me," Barone said. "A lot of times, they have assumptions of what might happen in a certain situation that aren't always correct. Part of my job is getting Latinos to overcome ideas that police are here to keep them down and keep them scared. I try to teach them that police are here to protect them." "
"It's frustrating to see the lack of services in Spanish," Barone said.
3 comments:
I am a world traveler and I can say first hand that other countries don't bother to explain laws or anything else for that matter. Wonder why we are expected to bend over backwards for someone who doesn't take the time to do research before they jump in. You don't need to understand English or any other language in order to have common sense.
Part of my job is getting Latinos to overcome ideas that police are here to keep them down and keep them scared
probably because they have a reason to be scared. If your illegal, and can be deported at any time, you should be scared.
oh I forgot, in Oregon the police are not allowed to ask you if you're a citizen.
I can see nobody explained anything to you cause you don't seem to have learned much in your travels; nor did you seem to have done much research before wasting all that dough :-(
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