infundibulum

An interesting look at the situation of Spanish from the Alabama Press-Register: Lack of Spanish speakers problem for Mobile, Baldwin police

The problem is exacerbated by a recent influx of Spanish speakers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina:

Top local law enforcement officials said the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed much of the Gulf Coast last year, and the availability of employment, particularly construction jobs, has brought a huge wave of Spanish-speaking immigrants to the Mobile Bay region.

Hernn Prado of the Alabama Latin American Association argues that increasing the number of Spanish-speaking officers would alleviate difficulties: “Police would be able to develop a better community policing… The Hispanic community would build more trust in law enforcement, and investigation of crime will be simpler.”

The scale of the problem is pretty impressive if you look at a map. I put this together from some maps at Wikipedia commons, see for yourself:

The Alabama Department of Safety’s State Trooper division has no Spanish speakers at its Mobile post, which covers Mobile, Baldwin, Washington, Clarke and Choctaw counties, a trooper spokesman said.

That’s an awful big chunk of land not to not be represented by a single Spanish-speaking officer in the department.