Language Line helps officers avoid getting lost in translation

A woman had called police to report that a man was trying to break into her mother's home.

When Sioux Falls Police Officer Greg Logan arrived and asked the 42-year-old mother if there was a problem, she shook her head and said "no."

The woman's need for help might have been lost in translation if it weren't for Language Line, a dial-an-interpreter service Sioux Falls officers are increasingly relying on to police an increasingly diverse city.

Logan speaks and understands some Spanish, but like virtually all of Sioux Falls' 231 sworn police officers, he is only fluent in English. In this instance, he didn't want to risk a misunderstanding.

Language Line allowed Logan and the Spanish-speaking woman to have a conversation with the assistance of a human translator on his cell phone.

In this case, on Sept. 8, the service made "a world of difference," Logan said.

"I found out she was strangled by her boyfriend and thrown on the bed the day before," Logan said. "If we didn't have Language Line working he could have gotten away."

In a city where the list of languages and dialects spoken is 140 and growing, employing a police officer who speaks each one is simply not feasible, Police Chief Doug Barthel said.

"I would love for our department to be representative of the community," Barthel said. "We know we are nowhere near that, but we certainly welcome candidates with those skills."

The department has four or five officers who speak Spanish well, Barthel said. Speaking a second language is a plus, but they still must hire the most qualified person for the job, he said.

One hurdle with recruiting officers from immigrant and refugee communities is that recruits must be proficient in English and meet other recruitment qualifications. They need to be a U.S. citizen with a valid driver's license. They need an associates degree, or failing that, at least 60 semester hours of college credits or two years of law-enforcement experience.

Language Line helps the department overcome language barriers in the absence of multilingual officers.

The service provides language interpretation and document translation in more than 200 languages to police, court systems, health care organizations and companies.

Sioux Falls Police spent $10,028 on interpreter services last year, up from $6,528 in 2012. The department is on pace to spend more than $10,000 again this year.

The rates for Language Line are split into four tiers, with higher rates for peak hours and less common languages. For Spanish, it costs $2.32 per minute during non-peak hours and $2.64 during peak hours. For Thai, for example, it costs $2.75 per minute during non-peak hours and $4.76 during peak hours.

Language Line can't be used in every case. For investigations into serious crimes such as rape and homicide, Barthel said they recruit local interpreters to help in person.

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota gets about 40 calls a year from police seeking interpreters, according to director Tim Jurgens. Its staff of translators cover about 35 languages. They charge police between $50 and $75 per hour for on-site interpreters who speak and write the language, from Spanish to Somali.

Police Chief Barthel said Language Line and other interpretation services allow officers to do their job, even when language creates a barrier.

"It certainly poses a challenge," Barthel said. "I certainly don't want to discourage those who speak other languages from calling us."