No, but if a Korean person was murdered and the only witnesses to
the crime were Korean family members who only speak Korean (actually
not unusual in Bergen County), there would at least be a Korean
interpreter who would help the police interview the witnesses.
And, if there was a town that had a certain percentage of Korean
residents, it would probably behoove that town to have a cop who
spoke Korean, or at least have an interpreter on call.
If we want to keep the entire community safe, we need a means of
communicating with the entire community. The police need to be able
to interview witnesses, gather information, etc. Just saying
everyone should speak English does not solve that issue- even if you
opened an English school at your house tomorrow, it would still take
years for you to teach everyone English. No one in this country is
mandated to speak any one language. So, how would you collect
information that would benefit the community as a whole? Just
say, "Ahhh forget it. The only person who knows anything about the
crime is the victim's 80 year old grandmother, and she only speaks
Creole so we can't communicate with her. Make her learn English and
then we can talk" Of course not, you find an interpreter.
So, unless you are going to mandate that everyone who comes into
this country MUST be fluent in English, and that if you are not
fluent in English, you will be kicked out, you must find a way to
communicate with people. Hey- if we are going to mandate English,
what do we do with deaf people who can only sign?
I always wonder when people debate the English only thing... If
these same people had to move to another country for some reason as
an adult. Say his/her husband or wife was transferred to Hong Kong
or was opening a new office in Brazil or he/she decided to retire in
Costa Rica... How many of the English only crew would quickly learn
the native tongue? Or, would they find an enclave of ex-pats to hang
out with who also spoke English. And, if something happened and
these same people needed help from the police, would you not hope
that there was someone who could communicate with them?
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "wernerapnj" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> Since Maureen mentioned my comments at the Council meeting I see
that
> its stirred up a small debate.
>
> Allow me to clarify what my point was, and it is very Asbury Park
related.
>
> First off- the Police department was being asked to give special
> consideration for our Spanish speaking residents.
>
> I find this inappropriate and ill-advised. Increasing the costs and
> burden of our Police department for a specialty group is certainly
biased.
>
> What if tomorrow a Haitian resident is murdered, or a Russian, or
> Korean...? Do we then ask that the Police department become fluent
in
> those languages ? Where do we stop ?
>
> There is a common denominator - The English Language. That is the
> language of government and governmental agencies in Asbury park.
>
> All residents of Asbury Park should make the effort to acquire at
> least some proficiency in the English language to ask for
assistance
> from from the Police or a passerby.
>
> Werner
>
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