Amazing.

I guess now the police should be require to know not just Spanish, but also French, German, Russian, Chinese, etc?

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Jesus, what bullshit.

Could I sue the mexican police if I went over there and got roughed up because THEY didn't speak my English ?

Fuck, we're stupid here if we let this kind of bullshit go on.

Isn't there an issue with the Miranda rights here (LOL, Miranda rights).
According to Wikipedia:
If a case could be jeopardized thus, wouldn't it be common sense that the officers actually had a basic knowledge of the language of such a substantial part of the population ?

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

Wouldnt it be common sense that if you're going to live in a country you try to obtain a basic knowlege of the language of the majority of the population?

Sorry WOI - the cop did nothing wrong here. The illegal is entirely to blame. Lucky for him he didnt get himself shot.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

It sure would, but that's not the case in reality.

The cop wasn't sued. If I understand correctly it's the City that is sued for not providing language lessons.

But neither of your arguments addresses the issue of the Miranda rights. It would not be in the interest of the police force either if their cases are thrown out of court because of this. And what if through linguistic misunderstandings people actually get shot ? A shrug of the shoulders ?

__________________
"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

Many jurisdictions have Miranda cards in English and Spanish.

Matt

__________________
De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Well if someone wont take responsibility for his own life (i.e. learning English when you've lived here - albiet illegally - for 23 years) why should anyone else give a damn?
I should have been clearer. Yeah, i know the city got sued.

Either way though, i dont really care. If someone is going to come here and not learn the basics of language, they deserve what they get.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

This could actually turn out to be a very interesting case. What if this case makes its way to the Supreme Court? What would the court say in regard to the language in this country and the governments' responsibility to effectively comunicate with all people considering we have no official language.

I'm not giving my opinion on this, but this case has the potential to fundamentally alter government interaction with people.

There is in Belgium, due to Nato, EU and other institutes a rather large American community, especially around Brussels.
Apparently, very few of them share your view as nearly none bother to learn either French or Dutch, no matter how long they live here. They take it for granted that the Belgians understand English or even their individual American dialect. Now, for me this is not a problem. Most Belgians speak three, four or more languages due to the nature of the country. It is in fact one of the few strong points of Belgians.
But I'm sure you can appreciate that some would find it arrogant that what is expected from foreigners in the US is not done by Americans abroad themselves ?

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

That of course solves the issue. Thanks.

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder

Gee, I wonder if other countries are so nice ?

I'll tell you what, if I went to another country where the main language was different than MINE, I'd be damn sure and learn at least the basics of that language.

What the fuck is wrong with this picture ? Am I the only one that sees the problem here ?

Why did the cop knock him down and kick him with steel toed boots anyway? Protect and serve?

Well, it doesn't really solve the issue, but it does help.

In the early 90's, our town had an influx of central american immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala, etc.

The police were having a really tough time because when they would go to arrest some of these folks, or detain them, they would end up trying to run away, and foot chases and physical altercations ensued.

When the police (who were given some minimal Spanish classes) would order these guys to their knees with their hands on their heads, they would almost always run.

It turned out that where these guys were from, when the police ordered you to go to your knees, it meant they were going to shoot you in the back of the head.

So they started doing some outreach with the community leaders, and got everyone to understand that the police don't execute people here, and things got much better.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Well, the officer probably took him to the ground when we would not comply. As far as the kicking goes, who knows if it actually happened, or if it was incidental to the physical confrontation?

Matt

__________________
De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Ah, so since he didn't understand English the officer was forced to be violent with him. I wonder if it's easier to just be rough with people who don't understand English or if it's easier to just learn how to say put your hands up in Spanish?