Lancashire Police Wasting Money?

[Neal]

POLICE officers are being taught Polish in a bid to communicate with the thousands of Polish workers who have come to East Lancashire.

Bosses have made cash available for officers to learn foreign languages and one of the most popular choices are lessons in Polish.

Police chiefs believe the move will help build relations with new European workers in the area.

It is said that Polish workers often have a mistrust of the police due to bad experiences in their homeland and come to the county with little or no English Sergeant John Rigby, of Blackburn police's ethnic mino-rity team, said: "We believe languages help officers broaden their outlook and break down communication barriers.

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/ne...e_ski lls.php

Before we have people shouting all kinds of abuse, I welcome anyone and know people of many faiths as well as worked and working with them.

But isn't this a waste of money which could be spent on the Police Service to tackle crime? We are short of Police Officers as it is and crime is high.

In my opinion, relations can only improve when people start to learn the native tongue of the country they chose to live in.

[chav1]

much cheaper to have a translator

police only realy need to talk to them when they comit a crime and if that is the case then the only words they need to learn are " you broke our laws so your going back " which rule i would apply to ANY imigrant

[WillowTheWhisp]

Yes I think it's a waste of money - encourage the immigrants to learn English, provide translators as and when necessary.

[AccyJay]

Any migrant worker should be able to speak English BEFORE being allowed into the Country.

[WillowTheWhisp]

I'm just watching a program about emmigrating to Australia - Australia wants immigrants, they are short of certain skills in the workforce, BUT they still insist on the requirement to speak English.

[lancsdave]

It's a bit like the money spent on having various intepretations of languages on government/official literature. The only place interpretations should be seen on official documents is in the tourist office.

As far as I know the OFFICIAL language of this country is English, unlike the USA where I believe they still don't have an official language.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I'm just watching a program about emmigrating to Australia - Australia wants immigrants, they are short of certain skills in the workforce, BUT they still insist on the requirement to speak English.

Oh how I wish I had my time again. Sadly age is probably still one of the biggest barriers to qualify.

[cashman]

NEAL you are spot on mate, this kind of thing really makes me angry,i,m not certain people should have to learn english before entry, but spending police money is ludicrous,if they cannot understand,thats there problem,NOT OURS.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Yep - you have to be under 40.

[SPUGGIE J]

No wonder crime is increasing when police are back at school an not on the beat. Why should we change to accomodate this influx of people. Let them make the effort.

[chav1]

if i can pick up enough spanish in a few days to get me by when in spain ime pretty sure somone coming to live here can learn enough english

granted i only learned the words for please , thankyou , hello , goodbye , chemist , pub , ciggrettes and a few other esentials when on holiday but the locals seemed very happy to help and appreciated the effort even if i did look like a retard waving my hands about trying to mime what i wanted if i couldnt get the words right lol

over there they have a brand of condom called RETARD - condomisio and i am glad i didnt have to mime that one


seriously though if people are coming to work here they shoud have basic knowledge of the language for health and safety reasons if anything because of safety signs in the work place etc