The mobile app connects
officers directly with an interpreter when they encounter a language barrier
with a member of the public. Launched at EPS as a pilot in 2021, InterpretManager
allows officers to communicate with individuals in the language of their
preference.
Officers simply access the
app on their mobile phone and are connected remotely with one of 17,000
interpreters who are fluent in more than three hundred languages, including
American Sign Language.
Calgary-based translation
agency Languages in Motion designed the app, which approximately 1,100 EPS
members currently have access to and will expand to include all sworn members by
the end of 2024. The EPS is one of the first policing organizations in Canada to
adopt the technology.
“To provide excellent service
in our diverse and growing city, officers must find ways to connect with
residents who prefer or need to communicate in a language other than English,”
said Iman Saidi, EPS Language Services Unit Lead. “Languages in Motion has helped
us do this more effectively, supporting our goal of ensuring inclusive and
equitable policing services for all Edmontonians.”
As part of its commitment to
increasing community connections and improving communication across cultural
and linguistic barriers, the EPS Language Services Unit provides services for
officers such as translation, interpreting, language evaluations, and cultural
consulting.
Since 2019, the program has
developed several innovative services, tools, resources, and guidelines to
facilitate communications and build connections between members of EPS and the
public. Some examples include a “hot key” for 9-1-1 to connect with
interpreters and training members who have additional language skills on how to
properly use those skills in a police setting.
Please visit
edmontonpolice.ca/languageservices for more information on the unit.