Enhancing communications with and overcoming language and cultural barriers impacting immigrants in all communities throughout San Francisco
WHEREAS, San Francisco is a multilingual city which has a vary large and diverse immigrant population, much of which is monolingual or possesses limited proficiency in the English language; and
WHEREAS, members of the San Francisco Police Department should respect the traditions and diversity of people living in the City and should be committed to excellence in law enforcement; and
WHEREAS, in order to maintain order, protect life and property, prevent crime and reduce fear of crime, the Police Department should be committed to providing service in a professional manner with courtesy, understanding, sensitivity, compassion, integrity and the use of astute judgment; and
WHEREAS, there is no other more important priority to the San Francisco Police Department than the protection of human life and that this belief needs to be reflected in every aspect of police conduct; and
WHEREAS, the San Francisco Police Department should treat equally all those they serve regardless of sex, race, immigration status, language ability, lifestyle, or the primary reason for police contact; and
WHEREAS, San Francisco’s residents expect members of the San Francisco Police Department to carry out their duties, protect citizens’ rights and maintain order in the City with impeccable conduct and high levels of accountability; and
WHEREAS, police officers in the course of their duties at times have interactions with immigrants with mental health problems who may speak little or no English; and
WHEREAS, the Police Department should be committed to working with other City agencies to broaden the mental health crisis intervention skills of police officers, and to develop around the clock resources for the mentally ill, to include a twenty-four hotline to mental health services; and
WHEREAS, The police department should be sensitive to the needs of the limited-English proficiency and monolingual community and the challenges faced by non-English speaking immigrants, and should be committed to enhancing communications with the members of this community and should acknowledge the specific language needs of many of these immigrants; and
WHEREAS, recent incidents involving the use of force by officers have raised questions regarding the adequacy of options available to police officers when dealing with San Francisco residents who have different cultural backgrounds and an inability to speak or understand English, particularly when this occurs in combination with mental health problems; and
WHEREAS, there exists a need to ensure that San Francisco police officers receive the best training available to handle matters involving interactions with mentally ill persons as well as with persons with limited or no proficiency in the English language, the San Francisco Police Department should place great emphasis on ensuring that all officers are trained to handle such matters with the highest degree of professionalism, and that the police department take all practical steps to ensure that officers receive in-depth training in these areas, and that this training includes crisis intervention techniques appropriate to non-English speakers, particularly as they relate to recent immigrants and those with mental health problems; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commission urges the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and the Police Commission to take all appropriate measures to ensure the highest level of communication, understanding, and cooperation between the Police Department and immigrant residents and communities. Aggressive recruitment efforts must be sustained to recruit additional bilingual police officers that are able to fulfill many functions; one of which is to patrol streets giving both the officers and community the opportunity to know each other. We strongly encourage the department to take any and all reasonable steps to have needed bilingual officers available on-duty and working all shifts. Staffing of the district police stations should take into account the area’s linguistic minorities and ethnic populations. Training in cultural diversity, mental health crisis intervention, and communicating with immigrants should be significantly enhanced to effectively address the community’s concerns. Should there be any budgetary implications for the above, we encourage the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to fully support the Police Department in their mission to protect its citizens by maintaining and developing trainings, recruitment, operations and community programs that will mutually benefit the San Francisco Police Department and the community.
