Garden Grove Police Expand Their Translation Powers

The Police Department now speaks Korean.

The city, home to Orange County’s largest Korean American community, is employing a translation service to help dispatchers communicate with Korean-speaking emergency callers. With the new service, unveiled Tuesday, dispatchers punch in a phone number to reach translators for Korean and 139 other languages--vastly expanding translation powers that previously included only Spanish, Vietnamese and Cantonese.

The city subscribed to the new “language line” service last month at the suggestion of Councilman Ho Chung, who himself has been called by police in the middle of the night to translate emergency calls in Korean. The added service targets the city’s estimated 6,200 residents of Korean descent, but officials said it also will help dispatchers handle calls from throughout the city of 143,000, which includes enclaves of immigrants from the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.

“All of us are dealing with a whole new set of demographics, and we’re having to adjust,” Police Capt. David J. Abrecht said at a news conference.

Abrecht said the department, which has two patrol officers and one civilian staffer who speak Korean, is also seeking to expand its bilingual ranks.

The translation service, which costs the city $6,000 a year, is offered by AT&T; and has already been put into action. Dispatch supervisor Julie E. Pelnar said she used a Korean-language translator last week to help with an emergency call about a woman who needed an ambulance after suffering a heart attack or stroke.

Chung, who recalled helping police talk to a woman who had wandered onto the freeway last year, pushed for the service after learning that Korean translation was not available through the state-sponsored translation program that the Police Department had been using.

“It’s a great achievement for the city to show residents and business owners that we listen to their concerns,” Chung said.