Cultural Competency Training/Sensitivity Training

Joyce St. George

Communities within the United States are experiencing dramatic demographic shifts as the birth rates of African Americans and Latinos outnumber those of Caucasians; waves of immigrants, refugees, and undocumented aliens seek new opportunities; and international terrorism concerns increase. The impact of these and other demographic shifts are daunting challenges to training police officers to effectively serve their diverse and multicultural communities. The U.S. Commerce Department's Census Bureau estimates that the nation's foreign-born population in 2003 numbered 32.5 million, or 11.5% of the total U.S. population. It further reported that many individuals living in the United States are not proficient in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding English. More than 26 million individuals speak Spanish, and nearly 7 million individuals speak an Asian or Pacific Island language at home. Twenty-six percent of all Spanish speakers, 29.9% of all Chinese speakers, and 28.2% of all Vietnamese speakers reported to the Census Bureau that ...

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