The New Orleans Police Department is now starting an initiative to build a team of bilingual officers to help strengthen relationships with communities that do not speak English.
The Civil Service Department is holding its first exam in Spanish and will hold other exams in various other languages such as Vietnamese.
According to Michael Harrison, NOPD superintendent, when an officer is certified they will be eligible to earn a five percent pay increase.
“Overcoming language barriers in the field is a major win for our officers and members of our limited English speaking communities,” Harrison said.
