Dallas police ticketed 39 drivers in 3 years for not speaking English | Dallas Morning News — The funniest aspect of this story are not the tickets but the fact that the paper reporting it had to turn off comments. Gee, I wonder why?
Dallas police wrongly ticketed at least 39 drivers for not speaking English over the last three years, Police Chief David Kunkle announced Friday while promising to investigate all officers involved in the cases for dereliction of duty.Pending cases will be dismissed, and those who paid the $204 fine for the charge, which does not exist in the city, will be reimbursed, Kunkle said.”I was surprised and stunned that that would happen, particularly in the city of Dallas,” Kunkle said. “In my world, you would never tell someone not to speak Spanish.”
Whats the issue here?
Unless these people can produce tourist visas they damn well SHOULD have to speak english.
The same for other countries, if I moved to france or denmark I’d damn well expect that I’d be required to speak the local language there in order to even obtain a license in the first place.
Zybch (#1),
The issue is that it is not illegal. Until there is a law making it illegal, the police cannot issue a citation for not speaking English.
Yes, let’s all sit back and imagine somebody getting a ticket for speaking only German, or French.
#1 – Think before you jab at your keyboard.
#2 The real question is how many of the 39 were commercial drivers (i.e. truck drivers)? The FMCSA Requires the truckers be able to communicate with the general public and law enforcement in ENGLISH.
Ҥ391.11 General qualifications of drivers.
(b)(2) Can read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records;”
Amar (#4),
I agree that the law applies to commercial truck drivers. The lady cited in the case that brought this all to light was not driving a commercial truck. In other local reports I heard that none of the 39 citations were to commercial truck drivers.
Que?
You expect rainbows and kisses from the police? They are bullies and assholes, get a grip.
I cringe at the whole idea of an “optional citation” but agree the police draws the power seeking personality disorder types.
Oh and #1, you’re the tool of the week. We are a nation of laws. K?
Ok , so the police need to speak english, spanish, and what chinese, maybe french and ???
Dallas is not a border town !!!!!!!!!!!!!
To the other people in other areas of the country that may not be aware of this , even if the police in the great state of Texas were required to learn to speak spanish, they will still be screwd , because most hispanic people in Texas don’t speak true spanish they speak Tex-Mex . Can you learn Tex-Mex by taking a course ? not positive but I don’t think so ..
Bi-linugalism is BS. You want to live here, learn the language.
If these tickets really are BS, then why don’t they take it to court and fight it? Oh, that’s right; because they know themselves they are illegal aliens that shouldn’t be here in the first place!
If the policeman really needed to speak to the driver, there’d need to be an interpreter, which either means bringing one in, or bringing the driver to an interpreter, or using a cellular (with speaker phone?) … I’m smelling the beginning of a bureaucratic or procedural boondoggle. Maybe it’s easier to be ticketed for pretending not to speak English (hindering police inquiries?), rather than being handcuffed and taken to “the station” for an interview. And than having to wait in custody for the Klingon interpreter. Frankly, I don’t envy anybody in this. It’s an invidious situation. And according to the Bible, it’s all God’s fault (grin).
I hope the proceeds from these tickets are used to ship the illegal offenders back to where they came from. If they can’t pay, them make them work it off by building the border fence.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think I remember another group of people coming to America and refusing to speak the already existent languages- oh right, that was the English. If we have a problem with being unable to communicate, it is our own problem to deal with- not someone else’s fault.
#1 – pay no attention to him, he’s from Barcelona.
Well that’s amazing, seeing that probably over 1/2 of Texas speaks Spanish and that Texas was a part of Mexico longer than it has been a part of the USA. When I lived in TX I met a few little old ladies who were born and raised in TX and who couldn’t speak English well, or not at all. And what’s this crap about a tourist visa? Why would people born in the USA need a tourist visa? Or what about people from Puerto Rico, a Spanish speaking American territory? I guess they have to speak English too huh?
Man there are a lot of stupid people in this country….
StoopidFlanders (#12),
The lady DID take it to court and won, which is how this all came to light. Did you RTFA?!?
I say speak English, regardless of status, if you are in America. Legal or illegal, learn the language, learn the culture, and obey the borders. This is a free land, if you want it to be. I cannot help you if I do not understand you. Interpreters should not be necessary to completing a transaction of any sort.
Oh, btw, does not surprise me that commenting was disabled by the Dallas paper, they are such sissies for opinions.
#2 #3 etc etc, how were these people even able to get a drivers license without being able to speak the language??
If you want to live in this great country, you need to demonstrate a baseline level of intelligence. Learning to speak English does just that.
StoopidFlanders (#21),
OK, then a law needs to be passed to make it a requirement. Until then the Dallas PD cannot issue a citation for failing to speak English. Again, which is why these 39 citations are being thrown out because it is currently not against the law…
While the judge is throwing out citations, perhaps he can also find the time to throw out the illegal aliens. This is a nation of laws, isn’t it?
Dear Grace, half of Texas does not speak Spanish ! they speak Tex-Mex ! Like I said if they spoke “true” spanish maybe a lot of police officers wouldn’t mind taking a spanish speaking course BUT if they spoke true spanish most of the hispanic Texans wouldn’t be abale to understand them .. I get this informatin from , many hispanic people here in Texas… Is any one geting this ???
Grace #17 said, “Well that’s amazing, seeing that probably over 1/2 of Texas speaks Spanish and that Texas was a part of Mexico longer than it has been a part of the USA.”
Why are they speaking Spanish and not Nahuatl?
Loupe #25 , many police officers most likely took Spanish Language courses in high school BUT like I said the Hispanic people in Texas do not speak true Spanish they speak TEX-MEX !
At leat pick one language , and lean it correctly…
I wonder how these people would like it if thre employeers paid all TEX-MEX speaking people in pasos ??
Well you are right about the TEX-MEX.
I grew up in New Mexico, in a bi-lingual school system. We were required to take both Spanish and English through the 10th grade. Even though it was Castillian Spaanish, it can be understood by most Hispanics. It’s like American English and Great Britain English or Cajun French to original. The differences are idiomatic rather than structural. So, making a blanket statement that Hispanic Texans can’t communicate with a non Tex-Mex speaker is incorrect.
My question is; how did they get a driver’s license? Did they not have to produce proof of residency and take a written test (in English)?
Michigan is a border state, yes the other border. The drivers license bureau has two lines, one for Spanish and one for English speakers. .. Wanna know what’s wrong with liberalisim catering to the whimes of the few at the expense of the many. .. Quebec is only 300 miles away and they speak French. .. Canada has laws that require all official business to be carried out in both languages, even though there are more Mandarin Chinese speakers in British Columbia than People who speak the required lanquage, French. .. But the National Sport is not Hockey as you would expect but LaCross .. Welcome to the future U.S.A. speakers who will be required to learn Spanish in schools now so they can communicate with George Bush’s favorite cheap labor source.
How can they have foreign language ballots, when one requirement for citizenship is to show a proficiency in English?