Police Panel OKs Bilingual Guidelines

The Los Angeles Police Commission unanimously approved 20 recommendations Tuesday aimed at boosting bilingualism within the department and reaching out to residents who speak little or no English.

“This is a milestone in the history of the LAPD,” said Commission President Edith Perez.

After two years of work, the commission’s Language Policies Task Force recommended that the LAPD increase rewards for and recruiting of bilingual employees, while holding top LAPD managers accountable for effectively training and deploying bilingual officers.

The goal, the 23-member task force concluded, is to “ensure that appropriate and effective communication [is made] in all community contacts.”

The task force was formed in 1996 after an elderly Koreatown resident went out for a walk one evening, lost his way, accidentally tried to enter someone else’s home and ended up getting searched, handcuffed and taken into custody.

Dong Sik Chong, 81, said he was detained for several hours and unable to communicate with officers because no one tried to find a Korean speaker for him. When the police finally released him, he was robbed and beaten as he once again tried to find his way home. Police said they believed that Chong was intoxicated and dropped him off at a homeless shelter.

Perez, who headed the task force, said the proposals in the report go beyond recommendations that were made by the 1991 Christopher Commission, which looked into excessive force issues after the beating of Rodney G. King and suggested that the LAPD improve its contacts with the city’s diverse residents.

At a news conference Tuesday, the task force recommendations were praised by Chief Bernard C. Parks, council members Jackie Goldberg and Mike Hernandez, mayoral aide Joe Gunn and other city and community leaders.