With all of the

other challenges, including life-and-death

situations, that public safety officers in

Fayette County face every day, the last thing any

of them needs is to encounter a subject that he

or she cannot communicate with.

But with the area

continuing to grow and become more

multi-cultural, the need to be prepared for the

possibility of encountering people who speak

other languages is a much higher priority for

police, fire/EMS and 911 departments than it was

even five years ago.

And it doesn't stop

there. If a defendant enters the court system and

speaks no English, accommodations must be made so

that the defendant can communicate with court

officers and understands all of the applicable

charges and rights pertaining to that case.

A surprising number

of Fayette County law enforcement officers are up

to the task. All law enforcement agencies and

emergency services personnel are trained in a few

basic Spanish phrases, since that is the spoken

language most commonly encountered here, and most

of them keep written forms of reference handy in

case a communication problem arises.

At the Fayette

County Sheriff's Department, at least a

half-dozen officers are fairly fluent in Spanish,

according to Maj. Ken Rose, who oversees the

patrol division. As his officers are the

department's primary contact with the public

- such as the uniformed officers you might

see at a traffic stop - he has a special

interest in seeing that this unique communication

challenge is met.

The department has

not gone out and specifically recruited bilingual

officers, Rose said, but several good applicants

in recent years have been products of bilingual

homes, where English and Spanish are spoken

regularly, or other life experiences such as

marrying a Spanish speaker.

While learning a

language in school can be very effective,

"there's nothing like a true Spanish

speaker" such as those raised in the

language all their lives, Rose said.

The department has

manuevered its scheduling somewhat to try and

have a Spanish speaker available nearly every

shift, for assistance to officers in the field as

well as in the jail.

"Our

professional face has to mirror the

public's," said Rose. "We can't be

effective if we don't have officers that can

interact with the public."

Lt. Francis

Cavender, a 26-year veteran of the Sheriff's

Department, sounds like a typical Georgia native

in casual conversation but can converse fluently

in Spanish and also speaks some German. That's a

product of his upbringing, with a father of

German descent and a mother who fled Spain as a

young lady with her family during that country's

civil war in 1936.

Cavender points out

that officers must deal not just with language

barriers, but cultural differences as well. What

may be a sign of respect in this country, like

looking someone in the eye when speaking, could

be perceived as a threat or offense in another,

he said.

Spanish is not the

only foreign language Fayette County officials

have encountered. Just a month or two ago, a

female defendant appeared in State Court speaking

only Mandarin Chinese, according to solicitor

general Steve Harris.

The court found a

female student at Fayette County High School in

the English as a second language program. She was

brought to court, and with the consent of the

defendant, she translated during the entire

process, which took about two hours, before being

driven back to school. The county paid the

teenager $20 per hour for her services.

A firm in Atlanta

makes certified court interpreters in a number of

languages available for $60-70 per hour, Harris

said. Uncertified interpreters, such as the high

schooler mentioned above, are used only with the

defendant's consent, but Harris said they usually

do not mind, since they only want to understand

the process.

"We could just

ask them if they have money [for a fine], count

it out for them and send them on their way,"

said Harris. "But that's not right. We don't

do that."

State Court has

encountered Laotian, Vietnamese and Russian

speakers as well as Spanish. Harris also keeps

handy a short list of local lawyers who are

Spanish speakers, in case a defendant needs one.

Providing an

interpreter in court is the defendant's

responsibility, according to attorney Rick

Lindsey, whose firm serves as solicitor for

Peachtree City's municipal court. Communicating

with some defendants has been a challenge, he

said, but the city has been successful so far.

The city has a

printed sheet with a defendant's rights and other

vital information listed in English and Spanish

for anyone who needs it. Peachtree City used to

have a few bilingual city employees, but not any

more.

Lindsey added that

his firm, Webb, Stuckey & Lindsey, has no

bilingual attorneys on staff, but they've thought

about hiring some because of the need.

On the road, when a

Spanish speaker has to communicate with a patrol

officer, he or she will often be traveling with

two or three family members or friends, and one

of them is often bilingual. A defendant will

often take the initiative and bring a friend to

court for translating purposes, Lindsey said.

Officers who are

not fluent in Spanish are often trained in a few

key words or phrases - "survival

Spanish," as Lt. Tom Kirkbride of the

Fayetteville Police Department put it.

That consists

mainly of knowing how to ask a person for a

driver's license or tell someone to stop and put

his or her hands up.

"We try to

meet them halfway," said Kirkbride. "If

we know a little Spanish, and they know a little

English, we usually can communicate."

Kirkbride said that

Fayetteville officers have encountered the

language barrier more often than not during

traffic stops.

Survival Spanish is

being used to some degree by the county's

emergency services personnel, according to Capt.

Pete Nelms of the Fayette County Department of

Fire and Emergency Services.

Using quick

reference sheets with medical terms in English

and Spanish, paramedics are able to use key words

like "what is the problem" and

"where do you hurt" when treating

medical emergencies.

"Sometimes

we'll have trouble getting names and where people

live," said Nelms. "But our top

priority is medical problems."

One FCDFES officer

currently studying at the University of Georgia's

Carl Vinson Institute of Management is working on

a project specifically designed to improve

communication and break the language barrier in

the medical field.

A method used more

frequently by local officers to help their

communication skills is the state's Public Safety

Training Center in Forsyth, which offers language

classes lasting from one to three weeks. The

Clayton Regional Law Enforcement Academy in

Jonesboro also offers a three-day Spanish course

a couple of times a year strictly for law

enforcement officers.

Many of the

county's police and court officers have taken

advantage of one of these options, and the

Sheriff's Department has gotten some good

feedback from its students, Rose said.

Technology also

plays a role in helping bridge the language

barrier, such as with foreign callers to the

county's 911 department.

As a member of the

National Emergency Number Association, the

Fayette 911 center is able to use a special

AT&T language line, which provides

interpreters in dozens of languages, according to

county 911 director Cheryl Rogers.

This allows the

caller to talk with the local dispatcher and the

interpreter at the same time. "We can set it

up like a conference call," said Rogers, who

added that Vietnamese is the latest language to

be added.

But while even

Vietnamese is becoming more prevalent in this

area, with the large contingent living in

Riverdale, the biggest problem the Sheriff's

Department faces isn't what one might think. It's

not even Spanish.

"We encounter

more deaf people than any other [language],"

said Rose. "That's a problem. No one here

knows sign language."

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