Kankakee County Sheriff Tim Bukowski and his deputies are looking for ways to more effectively serve the county's Spanish-speaking population.
The sheriff's office acknowledged recently that despite a significant Spanish-speaking population, Spanish skills are "a talent that a large majority of first responders in Kankakee County simply do not possess."
Bukowski and Undersheriff Mike Downey are hoping to address the problem on a shoestring, without needing to hire additional officers. The constraints have led to a couple of low-budget technological solutions, which they hope will be a step in the right direction.
"We realize that our agency’s social media pages gain a lot of attention throughout the community, as well as media outlets, and that we would be on the cutting-edge by providing a Facebook page, similarly to the one we already maintain, in Spanish," Downey said. "In addition to our Facebook page, we have begun equipping our deputies’ smartphones with automatic translation apps that will allow our officers to better communicate with those in their time of crisis.”
Bukowski stressed that hiring additional officers would be ideal but is not an option until the county's budget situation changes.
“As much as we would like to hire an influx of Spanish-speaking officers that would ensure a Spanish-speaking officer was on-duty at any given time, we certainly realize that the likelihood of our agency hiring any additional officers is virtually non-existent at this time,” Bukowski said. “We are simply trying to get by with the resources that we have been provided with and still provide services that benefit the community.”
The new page is live on Facebook under the name "Kankakee County Sheriff's Office En Espanol."
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