Nassau pressed to hire more bilingual cops

Efforts to increase the number of bilingual police officers in Nassau County to better deal with surging Hispanic immigrant populations drew support from some government officials at a forum in Hempstead yesterday.

Hispanic community activists are pushing officials to hire more bilingual police officers, particularly in the county's biggest villages, Hempstead and Freeport, to better communicate with Spanish-speaking residents.

"Miscommunication can have serious, even life-threatening consequences," Angeline Echeverría, executive director of the Long Island Civic Participation Project, an advocacy group based in Hempstead Village, said at the forum.

More than 75 people attended the event, held at the Hempstead Public Library. Advocates discussed the communication barrier between police officers and those who have limited English proficiency who want to report crimes.

Hempstead trustees Perry Pettus, Livio Rosario and Don Ryan and Freeport trustee Carmen Piñeyro said at the forum that they agree that more bilingual police officers are needed in their villages.

Nassau County has a Hispanic population of 14.6 percent, an increase of 46.6 percent since 1990, according to U.S. Census data. Hempstead Village has a Hispanic population of 44.21 percent, and Freeport Village has 41.7 percent.

The group, along with several other Hispanic organizations, is calling upon the Nassau County Civil Service Commission to create a job category for bilingual police officers, similar to categories already in place for bilingual hospital admissions officers, bilingual clerks and typists, and bilingual probation officers. The group is also asking the commission to create a separate list of qualified bilingual officer candidates.

Thomas Krumpter, acting commissioner of the Nassau County Police Department, said at the forum that the department was looking into the possibility of creating a separate list of Spanish-speaking candidates, like Suffolk County plans to do for the first time following its police civil service exam on June 11.

Krumpter urged Spanish-speaking residents to take the police exam once it is announced, which may be next year. Candidates should be U.S. citizens and between 18 and 35 to apply to become police officers. The last test was administered in August 2007 and the list of candidates created in April 2009.

"The people in this room are part of the solution," said Krumpter, who added the department has just under 100 Spanish-speaking officers out of about 2,400 officers.