Language barriers getting between residents and police

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24475924.language-barriers-getting-residents-police/

26^th July 2024

Language barriers getting between residents and police

Warndon councillor Ed Kimberley said people who don’t speak English as a first language often struggle to get officers to follow up on their concerns.

West Mercia Police says its officers have access to interpreters via a mobile app called Language Line and are working on other ways to improve community relations. […]

“One of the big concerns that I’ve got after a month or two of getting to know them and getting to understand the problem is there are quite a lot of barriers between the communities, particularly people who don’t speak English as a first language and actually accessing police services.

“A lot of them, if they don’t speak English as a first language, and they’re being asked to put in reports to the police in written form, and a lot of the systems seem to be geared towards that, it is significantly more difficult for them to do so.

“My experience has been that the things that get followed up are the things that people can chase up a couple of times, which excludes groups like that.  […]