Translators Help Police Bridge Gap in 30 Tongues

Police officer Bob Moore was faced with a problem recently in dealing with a disoriented man who was wandering the streets without identification.

The problem: The man was an Asian who did not speak English. The solution: the Monterey Park Citizen Translator Program.

Moore showed the man a booklet listing 30 languages. The man picked out the language he spoke, and Moore turned to another section of the booklet which informed the man that he was to wait while the officer called for an interpreter to help.

Moore then contacted the city’s police dispatch center, which telephoned one of 265 volunteer translators. A three-way radio-telephone patch was set up so the translator, the officer and man he was trying to help could communicate.

Emergencies Only at First

When the translator program was established a year ago, interpreters at first were used only for emergency calls, but now they are used for any routine situation on an almost daily basis, said Police Lt. Joseph Santoro, who coordinates the program.

“Many citizens have never talked to a policeman before,” Santoro said. “The one time they call it is important to them, and both the officer and the citizen are frustrated if they can’t communicate.”

Translators are available in all dialects of Chinese as well as Spanish, Japanese, Armenian, Burmese, Czech, Slovak, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Pilipino, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Swedish, Norwegian, Yugoslavian, Thai and Laotian.

Monterey Park’s Asian population is growing and the newcomers speak a variety of languages. The population is 39% Asian, 35% Latino, 1% black and 25% Anglo and other. Of the Police Department’s 68 sworn personnel, 20% are Asian, 25% Latino, 3% black and 52% Anglo. Thus the odds of the right Asian officer, for example, being in the right place at the right time are slim.

The program, which operates at minimal cost to the city, has been so successful it has been adopted by other law enforcement agencies, including the Alhambra, Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments.

Volunteer translators run the gamut of senior citizens to office workers. The only requirement is that they have access to a telephone.

“They pick their own time,” Santoro said, “and are not obligated to stand by the phone the entire time. Some people tell us to call any time of the day or night.”

Several translators work for the city. Diana Lee, for example, works for the Parks and Recreation Department and David Yeung works in the Business Licensing Department. They both speak Mandarin and Cantonese.

Among the translators are some who are court-certified. “When an officer needs someone to translate and it involves a case that may end up in court, we have to be able to prove the interpreter’s expertise in the language,” Santoro said.

When asked for their ideas, some officers have suggested that using the hand-held radio ties up a police frequency. On the street this is necessary, Santoro said, but if an officer goes to a house on a burglary call, he can use a portable speaker phone that can be plugged into a regular telephone.

The program also serves to bridge the cultural gap. “The translators give us guidance on cultural traits,” Santoro said. “What is routine here can be offensive in other countries. For example, if an officer responds to a call and goes to the house he may very well speak to the wife or children first. But in some cultures the husband is the elder and will lose face if he is not spoken to first. So the translator tips off the officer on this.”

Santoro said he does not know how many times interpreters have been used, but the department has begun recently to keep a log as part of its modification of the program.

Santoro said one logistical problem is keeping track of the translators. “If we are not in constant contact they may feel they are no longer a part of the program,” he said. “So every three months we send them a thank-you letter for being involved. And people move and change their phone numbers so we constantly have to update the list.”