About this course
Overview
It is vitally important every street and patrol officer become aware of key elements of the Hispanic Experience. It is almost a certainty that officers will encounter Hispanics and Hispanic Americans in their day-to-day encounters with the public. This now, of course, is true far beyond simply our Southern border states. The influx of Hispanics to the United States will have a definite impact on law enforcement in every state of the nation as Hispanics are becoming ever more assimilated into our society. This program is two-fold in its importance. Number One, it provides several key cultural issues officers should understand when dealing with Hispanics in everyday policing encounters and Number Two, the program includes an excellent, easy-to-follow ‘tutorial’ introducing officers to key Spanish words and phrases which may be extremely handy during encounters, stops, interrogations and interviews with Hispanics and Hispanic Americans. Keep in mind that a very sizable number of Hispanics, new to our nation, our language, and our ways have extremely limited to virtually no understanding of the English language.
THE PROGRAM
The program begins with an important Prologue featuring the very first cruiser cam video of an American law enforcement officer’s murder. Texas Constable Darrell Lunsford had made a nighttime traffic stop (Dec., 1991) of a vehicle he suspected may have been occupied by narcotics traffickers. When he stopped the car, the motorist, seemingly cooperative, indicated he spoke very little English, like his two passengers. He quickly took advantage of Constable Lunsford’s unfamiliarity with Spanish and hastily plotted (in Spanish) with his cohorts to ‘bum rush’ the constable, which occurred.
Course Video Preview: