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SALT LAKE CITY — A new report suggests a large portion of Utah law enforcement agencies are falling short when it comes to serving individuals who speak little to no English.
An American Civil Liberties Union of Utah report examining law enforcement policies that govern interactions with such individuals found that only half of the agencies followed standard practices, which the report defined as having elements like training, community outreach, authorized interpreters and written forms and guidelines.
Meanwhile, 22% of agencies were found to have deficient policies, 7% were highly deficient and "a staggering" 20% — including the Utah Highway Patrol — have no written policy in place.
"Utah law enforcement agencies at every level — state, county and city — have many reasons, and even obligations, to have policies in place," the report reads. "We recognize that there are operational restraints associated with these recommendations and that Utah law enforcement agencies have varying budgets and resources. Yet, we also underscore that providing limited English proficient services is not optional but required under federal law. Limited English proficient individuals have the constitutional right to receive limited English proficient services that are dependable, consistent and widely available."
The report analyzed policy records requested from the Utah Highway Patrol, all 29 county sheriff's offices, police departments from the state's 25 most populous cities, as well as two state 911 dispatch centers.
It found a "patchwork" of policies due to a lack of statewide laws governing the issues. Agencies whose policies were classified as deficient or highly deficient often did not designate a coordinator to implement and oversee the policy, did not have training for interpreters and did not require bilingual staff to demonstrate their language skills.
Provo Police Department and Sevier County Sheriff's Office were the agencies with the most deficient policies, according to ACLU of Utah.
Provo officials told the organization it did not have an official written policy regarding translation/interpretation for people who do not speak English, but provided a short policy for limited-English, disabled and special needs clients. The policy states that the department has a bilingual Spanish-speaking victim assistant, seeks translation services from other community services and utilizes bilingual city employees.
Sevier County Sheriff's Office reported its policy is "to reasonably ensure that limited English proficient individuals have meaningful access to law services, programs and activities, while not imposing undue burdens on its members. The department will not discriminate against or deny any individual access to services, rights, or programs based upon national origin or any other protected interest or right."
Overall, 25% of Utah sheriff's offices and 12% of surveyed police departments in the state had no formal language policies in place.
Consequences and recommendations
Consequences of the findings could result in a number of detrimental outcomes for both individuals and communities, the report says, such as false arrests, persons inadvertently waiving their rights or English-speaking domestic violence abusers silencing non-English speaking victims.
The report highlights the compounding effect that language barriers can have on communities of color, which may already have a collective fear or mistrust of law enforcement. It also cautioned against relying on children, family members, neighbors or other untrained people to interpret between police and individuals with limited English proficiency, which can be particularly harmful in domestic violence cases.
"This practice is dangerous as these citizens may lack the qualifications or training to perform language services," the report states. "These ad hoc interpreters, however, may be misunderstood, expose confidential information, have conflicts of interest, or give false information. ... In worst-case scenarios, language barriers may contribute to or lead to miscommunications resulting in unlawful arrests, bodily injury and even death."
Although the report did not directly investigate whether agencies comply with their own policies regarding limited proficient English individuals, it did find that 92% of the state's sheriff's offices and 40% of police departments with standard policies did not indicate they had appointed someone to oversee the policies, despite having the position outlined in the policy itself. ACLU of Utah argues this translates to less accountability for law enforcement to actually follow the policy and leaves room for potential mistreatment of individuals with limited English proficiency.
"All Utah law enforcement agencies can and must improve their limited English proficient services policies," the report reads. "Implementing compliance mechanisms is crucial to ensure that policies are not simply empty words but are used to improve law enforcement agency interactions with limited English proficient individuals."
ACLU of Utah's recommendations for the state's law enforcement agencies include fostering feedback to ensure that the policies meet communities' needs, redistributing resources to identify language needs in their communities, adopting policies that enable law enforcement members to effectively communicate with individuals with limited English proficiency in English and improving employee training.
Those changes could impact the more than 148,000 Utahns the Census Bureau has identified to be limited English proficient. That population is consistently growing as Utah becomes more diverse and refugee resettlement efforts continue. The number is also likely a lower estimate, since the census consistently undercounts communities of color and immigrants.
The Census Bureau defines anyone who self-identifies as speaking English less than "very well" as limited proficiency. People proficient or fluent in English, but who speak another language, are not included. There are over 24,000 households in Utah reported to not have anyone over age 14 who speaks English very well.
The majority of Utahns with limited proficiency in English speak Spanish as their primary language. However, at least 120 languages are spoken in Utah, with growing popularity of Chinese, Vietnamese, Austronesian languages, Korean, Portuguese, Diné Bizaad (the Navajo language), Arabic, Tai-Kadai languages, Tagalog and more.
The top five counties with the largest limited English-speaking populations are Washington, Davis, Weber, Utah and Salt Lake counties. San Juan County is also home to many limited-English individuals who primarily speak Diné Bizaad (the Navajo language) and account for 11.2% of the county's population.
"The provision of limited and meager limited English proficient services addressing the bare minimum needs of limited English proficient individuals is unacceptable," the report says. "As such, we urge agencies to work to make these measures a priority in their budgeting decisions and adopt these recommendations to the maximum extent."
