Hispanics line up for driving school

In fact, sometimes the culture clash looks a lot like a demolition derby. Hispanics are gumming up courts and plowing into the back ends of trucks, uninsured and often unlicensed. What's more, the dangers of drinking and driving haven't necessarily filtered into the depths of the often insulated Spanish-language neighborhoods in Wake, Durham, and Chatham Counties. The North Carolina Highway Patrol reports that Hispanics are eight times more likely to be involved in a driving-while-intoxicated accident than other groups.

But while some problems are directly attributable to sheer disregard of US laws, most of it is simply ignorance: Segregated by language and culture - and often fearful of contact with any kind of US officials - many immigrants simply do as well as they can.

Moreover, many of them come having learned to mistrust authority. "Where they come from, the notion of a license is a 10-peso bill you hand to the policeman," says Nestor Gonzales, a translator at the police academy with a politician's knack for pegging the air to make a point. "But the fact is, our people are hungry for information."

A little outreach does go a long way, experts have found: California's Blue Protector traffic education program, an outreach program aimed at Hispanics, cut DWI incidents in half in just a year in 1996.

Facing their own burgeoning populations of Latinos, other states including Georgia, Arkansas, and Iowa are also looking for answers. (Hispanics are now the largest minority in 23 states.) "People on both sides are trying to understand the cultural differences, which are all over the map: it's food, it's mannerisms, it's conversational intimacy," says Mr. Ternatzky.

Graduates here say such barriers fell surprisingly quickly at the Spanish Police Academy.

Students - many of whom managed to attend despite working multiple jobs - expressed a new respect for the American lawmen. Police, for their part, were impressed by the curiosity - and gregariousness - of their Latino charges. While an English-speaking academy drew only eight takers, nearly 50 Latinos packed most of the classes in this session.

"We've really been overwhelmed by the response, on many levels," says Durham Police Captain F.L. LaBarge, one of the instructors.

Language barriers will continue to challenge efforts "to make our communities one," as Durham cop Hector Borges puts it. But the region's residents also have a large capacity for reserving judgment, many say.

"There's a lot of good people in the South who are very welcoming and tolerant [toward Latinos], but there's also some animosity and some hostility and resentment," says Andrew Wainer, a researcher studying Hispanic communities in the South for the Tomas Rivera Institute. "But, so far, police are at the forefront of reaching out."

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