Tea Time with the CPD

Yesterday I had tea with Kimberly, from the Columbia Police Department. And no, I was not in trouble!

Not long ago, I heard a story about a young refugee man who was pulled over by a police officer.  That young man was nervous and jumped out of the car to meet the officer on the side of the road.  In his country of birth it is the correct thing to do, but here, it just made the officer nervous.  The situation almost escalated due to a cultural difference.  The officer kept his wits about him and was able to make it a teachable moment.  

 

I found this amazing picture online and had to include it! This little boy ended up getting to sit in the "big" car and then getting invited for a personal tour of the police station!

This story concerned me, and rightly so.  Part of my VAD (essentially my job description at the City of Refuge) is to create curriculum for our refugees, staff, volunteers and interns to use.  Immediately I started to work on a traffic violation/accident etiquette lesson.  

 

Before I "published" my Google Slide, I wanted to reach out to someone at the CPD to make sure that my instructions were correct.  As you know, the police force is low and so is recruiting; patiently waiting is not my thing but I wanted the lesson to be accurate and include all of the necessary information.  

Kimberly is involved in education on the police force so she was the perfect person to advise me.  We met at a central location for both of us and enjoyed a cup of tea while we chatted about ways to keep our refugee friends safe on the streets.  I was excited to know that my lesson, as a whole, was acceptable.  Kimberly was able to help me tweak it and also help add important details that I overlooked.  

We also talked about encouraging refugees to carry a card with their driver's license.  If the card has printed details, in English, outlining the level of English skills, country of origin, and language of comfort, perhaps the officers can pull up Google translate or use a language line to communicate.   Can you imagine getting pulled over in a foreign country but you don't speak the language?  Adrenalin is an amazing thing and can often cloud the mind and cause a person to forget details they would not otherwise forget.  Some of our new friends have even come from countries where the police are corrupt; they might have even personally had negative experiences as well.

Today I worked on my revisions and plan to add a voice over to the lesson this afternoon.  I am a "fixer" and this is a good way for me to help "fix" a potentially bad situation from occurring again in the future.

And of some have compassion, making a difference: Jude 1:22 KJV

Click here to find out more about volunteer opportunities at City of Refuge.

All opinions expressed here are solely mine and are not a reflection of the opinions of the AmeriCorps VISTA program

 or of City of Refuge in Columbia, MO.