Idaho Falls offers bilingual police a bonus

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – The Idaho Falls City Council has voted a 3 percent pay raise for full-time police officers who can speak Spanish.

The move by the council last week is designed to deal with a growing Hispanic population in the eastern Idaho city.

A police officer with two years experience who passes a required oral and written proficiency test would see his or her pay increase from $38,600 to $39,700.

“If you have a need for them, they’re worth their weight in gold,” said Rory Olsen, a coordinator with the Idaho Peace Officers Standard and Training Academy.

In 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau said Bonneville County had a population of 91,856. Hispanics made up 8 percent of that, double what the census found in 1990.

Idaho Falls police spokesman Lt. Joe Cawley said that four or five officers in the 89-officer department could qualify for the bonus.

“These officers are sometimes inundated just going from call to call to call just interpreting,” Cawley said Tuesday.

Craig Lords, municipal services director, asked for the pay increase for Spanish-speaking officers after getting a proposal from the local Fraternal Order of Police.

The proposal, which asked for a 5 percent increase, said Spanish-speaking officers “are continually called upon to go out of their way to assist other officers in translations during calls.”

Police officers in nearby Pocatello can receive a few hundred dollars in extra pay annually if they are proficient in any second language.