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‘We speak English here': Nassau County Police sued for language access
By
Charles Lane
Published Jul 18, 2023
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By
Charles Lane
Published Jul 18, 2023
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An immigrant legal service group and two unnamed plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit against the Nassau County Police Department, claiming that it fails to provide translation services for those with limited English proficiency. The lawsuit claims NCPD has a written policy requiring officers to help non-native English speakers, but that many do not follow it in practice.
In a video provided by the Central American Refugee Center, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, a woman asks someone who appears to be a Nassau police officer for a translator. The officer refuses.
“No, this is the United States of America, we speak English here,” the officer can be heard telling her.
The video does not show how the conversation is resolved. In the lawsuit, the woman, who is also listed as a plaintiff, is identified by the pseudonym “V.A.”
She says in court papers that she had to make a second call to 911 before someone connected her to a translator. The lawsuit says she tried to file an internal affairs complaint against the officer but the police precinct refused to help.
Nassau police and county officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“Access to justice in Nassau County is not limited just to those individuals who speak English,” said Elise de Castillo, executive director of the Central American Refugee Center. “We have to make sure that services such as police are available to all Nassau County residents in the language in which they feel most comfortable communicating.”
In the past, Nassau County has been criticized for denying non-English speakers interpretation services. A report last year by the nonprofit Long Island Language Advocates Coalition and the New York Immigration Coalition found that Nassau police failed to help non-English speakers about half the time.
In 2013, then Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano reached an agreement with the state's attorney general, signing two executive orders requiring county agencies to “provide all necessary interpretation and translation services” to those seeking help from police.
Nassau County is home to roughly 160,000 people born in Latin America who speak Spanish at home and almost 100,000 people born in Asia, most of whom speak Korean or Mandarin.
For at least a decade, the police department has been using LanguageLine, a service that connects officers to live translators through a phone app. However, advocates say police never reliably made use of the service. During the state-mandated police reform process of 2021, Spanish speakers frequently complained about a lack of access to police in their native language.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said Nassau has failed to investigate internal affairs complaints made by Latinos who were denied interpretation services.
“They're denying that they have a larger problem here and are simply not committed to properly investigating the number of allegations that have come over the years,” said Meena Roldán Oberdick, a lawyer for the nonprofit LatinoJustice, which drafted the lawsuit.
Gothamist previously reported that out of 144 civilian complaints of false arrest and excessive force, Nassau police had not found that a single one was founded.
Oberdick said the plaintiff hopes a judge will grant them class status and enforce policy changes in NCPD, possibly by installing a federal monitor. LatinoJustice recently settled a $3.7 million lawsuit against Suffolk County, alleging discrimination against Latinos.
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Charles Lane
Charles is a Day-of reporter focused on breaking news and enterprise. He’s very friendly and can be reached at [email protected], or more securely on whatsapp/signal 631-295-6715
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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