Published: 11 January, 2008, 08:16
Edited: 11 January, 2008, 08:16
Joining the city's police force is becoming an attractive career choice for a growing number of Russian immigrants in New York. The city has the largest concentration of Russian speakers in the U.S. To make sure these immigrant voices are heard, the NYPD
Necessary link
Many immigrants living in the Brighton Beach area of NY don't speak or understand English. But even those who do don't necessarily trust cops due to negative experiences back in Russia or the former Soviet Republics. Russian-speaking police officers are a necessary link between New York City's law enforcement officials and Brooklyn's Russian Speaking community.
NYC Police Officer Alexander Katz, an immigrant from St Petersburg, says employing Russian speakers makes sense.
“One of the keys to fighting crime is to be closer to the community. And having Russian officers in the area populated by Russian people certainly helps,” Katz said.
For years. officer Katz has been patrolling the neighbourhood, enforcing the law, addressing concerns, and working to build trust within the community.
He says it was his experience growing up in the Soviet Union that gave him the self discipline to embark on a career in law enforcement:
“Part of the curriculum in school was to take apart and put back together an automatic riffle. You had to sit in gas masks a certain amount of time. You had to learn how to march”.
Officer Katz says he knew less than ten Russian-speaking officers when he joined the force a decade ago. Now he claims to know about seventy.
What do other cops say?
City officials say nearly 200 Russian-speaking cops are in the department. But what does this figure mean for the city of New York, the most diverse and densely populated city in the United States?
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says it helps them with their community relations.
“It helps us in doing investigations where language skills are important. It just makes sense for us to reflect this very, very diverse population that we police,” Kelly said.
With a population of 8.2 million people, New York City’s murder rate is at a historic low, with less than 500 murders reported last year.
Last month, the most recent class to graduate from the Police Academy was the most diverse ever. Twenty per cent of the 914 graduates were born overseas, five of them Russian-speaking immigrants.
Just this week, Commissioner Kelly swore in a new class to the police academy, where more Russian speaking immigrants signed up to put their life on the line for their adopted country.
“In the most recent class, we had seven of those recruits born in Russia. We had three from the Ukraine, and one from Belarus,” Kelly said.
New York City is officially considered the safest big city in the United States. But the responsibility to keep the Big Apple safe brings along danger and constant commitment. It's a job of honor and prestige, a badge more and more Russian-speaking immigrants are signing up for.