An Introduction to Policing
Hispanic culture includes Mexicans, Cubans, South Americans, Central Americans, and Puerto Ricans. The number of Hispanic officers is increasing each year. An advantage Hispanic officers have are that these officers can relate to Hispanic communities by knowing their language and cultural barrier. South Florida is being dominated by Cubans while in Central America and South America; Mexicans are the largest group along the border. There are different types of Hispanics. There are the Hispanic descent which are born and raised in the U.S. but do not speak any Spanish; there are Hispanic officers who were born in Mexico and are bilingual but were raised in the U.S.; the last group of Hispanics would be the officers who were born and raised in Mexico and became U.S. citizens. Hispanics who were raised and born in Mexico are the officers who may relate the most to residents in which they build a relationship and trust with each other. Hispanic officers are faced daily with discrimination and other controversy issues. Organizations were made with goals of meeting the challenge of selecting, promoting, and retaining Hispanic American men and women in the criminal justice system. This would be the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association which was established in 1973. Many of these organizations are not offered in smaller departments. Making officers become bilingual would make it easier for Hispanic officers to not feel discriminated in situations in which an officer is needed on a scene to translate. Many people who come from Central and South America do not trust many officers in the U.S. because they were always faced with corrupt and abusive cops. Immigrants often feel more comfortable in calling in certain officers in which they know they can relate to them. They will often not even make a phone call in case of an emergency if they believe that officers are corrupt. Being Hispanic, I have been stopped by
References: Dempsey, J. (2011) An Introduction to Policing. New York: Delmar Cengage Learning