April 4, 2000
Law enforcement throughout Utah is preparing for a foreign invasion, of sorts.
Thousands of citizens from foreign countries will be descending on Utah for the Olympics.
And the criminal justice system is gearing up--with some education.
News Specialist John Daley has details.
A couple of hundred people turned out for a seminar today hosted by Utah's U.S. Attorney's Office.
The main message-- treat foreign nationals who might get into trouble here, the same way we Americans would like to be treated if we were to get into trouble overseas.
Let's say you're a foreigner and you come to Utah for the Olympics, but you get into a bit of a scrape with the law.
What rights do you have?
Should you be treated just like a US citizen?
That practical question inspired this seminar held for folks working in law enforcement--and the criminal justice system.
The main message: Follow the International Golden Rule.
David Schwendiman/Asst. U.S. Attorney: "TREAT THE FOREIGN VISITOR WHEN THEY COME HERE AS YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED IF YOU WERE IN THE COUNTRY THAT THEY REPRESENT, LEGALLY AS WELL AS EVERY OTHER WAY."
If a foreign citizen gets arrested, the police need to contact the consulate from that person's country.
If a prominent European ski racer, let's say, lands in jail after a fight in a bar, then police had better inform officials from their country.
It's common courtesy and could help avoid some kind of international incident.
The flip side is, we don't want for foreigners to get away breaking the law just because they may have some high-profile connections.
Elizabeth Swope/U.S. State Department: "WE ALSO WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS DON'T ESCAPE JUSTICE BY CLAIMING SOMETHING THEY'RE NOT ENTITLED TO, SOME KIND OF IMMUNITY THEY MAY NOT BE ENTITLED TO."
We'll have more than 130,000 Olympic visitors.
70,000 from outside Utah--from roughly 80 countries.
Consider as well the long-term tourism patterns, and this kind of training could not be more critical.
Elizabeth Swope/U.S. State Department: "SALT LAKE AND UTAH WILL BE MORE POPULAR AS A TOURIST DESTINATION. PEOPLE FROM OVERSEAS ARE GOING TO WANT TO COME HERE TO SKI AND SEE THE WILD WEST."
One booklet distributed today includes suggestions of what police officers should say to foreign nationals if they are arrested or detained.
It includes translations in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi and many other languages.
It's practical information that could come in handy in 2002.
