Officer Jessenia Guzman of the NYPD was issued a reprimand for violating a little know department rule about only speaking English in the work place. This policy has been in effect for four years, but does not apply to non-work related conversations.
The New York Daily News reports that officer Guzman was written up on May 14 and issued a "memo of reprimand" when she spoke to a fellow officer in Spanish while on duty. According to the Daily News Guzman was working at the switchboards of the 24th precinct in Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Guzman, a Bronx native with a Dominican Republic background, said a fellow Spanish speaking officer was walking past her and the two had a brief conversation, no more than two sentences in Spanish.
"It was just natural," Officer Guzman explained to the Daily News. "She walked by. She was going to get coffee. She said something [in Spanish], I responded [in Spanish]. That was it."
After the seemingly innocent encounter with her fellow officer, Guzman was called into the officer of her superior and issued the memo.
According to the Daily News the memo read all officers are "required to communicate department business in the language of English."
The memo goes on to say, "This policy is in place to allow proper supervision of personnel."
Officer Jessenia Guzman has since gone on to file two "federal equal employment opportunity complaints" against the superior officer that reprimanded her. Reports are saying that the officer Guzman is said to have been speaking Spanish with was not disciplined for failing to follow the English only rule.
Officer Guzman has been with the NYPD for 13 years, the memo against her will go on her permanent work record for the rest of her career. Linda Cronin, a spokeswoman for the National Latino Officers Association, told the Daily News,
"When it's good for the department they can speak Spanish. When it's not convenient, you'll be disciplined."
Latin Times reached out to the NYPD for a comment regarding the disciplinary action taken against Officer Guzman, but they did not immediately respond. On Sunday the NYPD did defend their rule to the Daily News saying,
"We're a 24/7 operation. We should be speaking one voice, which is English."
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