Immigrant Populations, Community Policing Strategies for

As first responders, law enforcement officers must be able to interact with all communities and communicate with suspects, victims, and witnesses effectively and without delay. This is even more critical for those operating within a community policing framework, which focuses on engaging community members in problem-solving partnerships to address crime and social disorder.

In the United States, police often have to navigate unfamiliar cultures and languages to engage community members as partners in ensuring public safety. Nearly 40 million foreign-born individuals now live in the United States and 7 million of these persons have arrived since 2003. Thus, it is critical for police officers to have positive relations with immigrants. Doing so, however, requires overcoming significant challenges posed by language barriers, cultural biases and differences, and ...