Public Service Interpreting and Translation News : December 2014

Monday, 29 December 2014

Grantham court: Friend takes place of translator in court

http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/local/grantham-court-friend-takes-place-of-translator-in-court-1-6494155
29 December 2014

Grantham court: Friend takes place of translator in court

A Romanian man who admits theft and attempted theft of more than £2,000 worth of chewing gum and other items from two supermarkets had to rely on his English speaking friend to translate in court when no interpreter turned up.

Ionut Dumitru Nae, aged 31, from Burnaby Road, Coventry, had pleaded guilty on November 24 to attempting to take £900 worth of gum and other items from Morrisons in Stamford, and then stealing more packs of chewing gum, champagne and other products totalling £1,500 from Grantham’s Asda.

Both offences were committed on November 21, and on his first appearance before Grantham magistrates Nae was given a curfew not to leave his Coventry home between 7pm and 7am, ahead of the preparation of a pre-sentence report and his sentencing due on December 22.

However Nae has yet to attend an appointment with probation, and he appeared before magistrates with a friend translating that his case would be adjourned to January 19. Nae also had his requirement to report daily at a Coventry police station, which he has been complying with, amended to the central branch between 7am to 9am.

Sunday, 28 December 2014

Costs questioned over police interpreter arrangements

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/11690427.Costs_questioned_over_police_interpreter_arrangements/
28 December 2014

Costs questioned over police interpreter arrangements

Police had requests for interpreters able to translate 75 different languages in West Yorkshire during the last year, force statistics have revealed.

They were wanted to help officers communicate with suspects, victims and witnesses during their investigations, with 95 requests made for British Sign Language translation.

Interpreters were requested on 5,532 occasions during the year, with the top ten most commonly requested languages accounting for around 80 per cent of the total.

West Yorkshire Police would not discuss costs of the service on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, but Bradford councillor Michael Walls, who is a member of West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Panel, said he would raise the question of whether the work was currently done in the most cost effective way.

An organisation called Capita Translation and Interpreting provides the service.

A force report states: "Note that requests for language translators are not necessarily a reflection of first languages spoken within West Yorkshire.

"Some suspects, victims and witnesses may speak English sufficiently to not require a translator, or make use of an intermediary other than a Capita translator.

"However, translator data is a useful local demographic source of information."

Cllr Walls is a retired police officer and said that historically the force had employed civilian 'liaison officers' whose duties included acting as translators for the foreign languages most commonly spoken in West Yorkshire.

Serving officers who spoke foreign languages were also used to act as translators in the past, he said.

Cllr Walls (Queensbury, Con) acknowledged that today's environment had changed, but questioned whether there were opportunities to utilise the skills of serving officers with a second language.

"The police cannot function without interpreters, they are necessary but I don't doubt the annual figure for providing them will be quite high," he said.

"We need to make sure we do this in a way which is the most financially viable.

"I would have thought there would be an opportunity to use police officers who have a second language to do some of this. That would be more economical. Also, if a police officer is on duty they are there immediately rather than having to wait for someone else."
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/549282/West-York-Shire-police-force-interpreters-immigrants