Report Says Pasco Should Hire More Spanish-speaking Cops

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The Pasco Police Department should take steps to ensure all officers speak some Spanish, improve the training of officers to deal with mentally ill people, and hire more Spanish-speaking officers in the wake of last year's shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes that sparked protests in the city.

The recommendations were released Monday by the Police Executive Research Forum, which was asked by the U.S. Department of Justice to study the shooting.

The report recommended that the police department advance the concept of community policing, provide more opportunities for officers to learn Spanish and provide officers with an understanding of cultural diversity and the role of implicit bias in policing.

Zambrano-Montes, an orchard worker from Mexico, was shot and killed as he threw rocks at police at a busy downtown intersection.