NYPD To Be Audited For Language Barriers
by MEREDITH TRAINA | wpix.com

7:02 p.m. EDT, April 10, 2010
NEW YORK (WPIX )—
The NYPD is up for review, and they better brush up on their foreign language.

The Justice Department is auditing New York City in terms of how they deal with New Yorkers who don't speak English. New York is just one of many audits around the country.

It's all part of an investigation into language barriers during police encounters, and whether or not they lead to violations of invidviduals' civil rights. The audit will examine whether language barriers affect things like the filing of complaints or emergency calls.

The federal government has done similar audits in the past, but this is the first time New York City is being investigated.



Some lawyers of non-English speakers cite examples of NYPD interactions where there is no way to communicate, and officers mark the victims as "uncooperative" or that they "refused" to comment.

One possible penalty for a bad review is a reduction in federal grants, though this highly unlikely. Department funding hasn't been reduced since 2002, since which time the NYPD has received 50 reviews.

The NYPD says it has the largest staff of multilingual officers in the country.