Portfolio at NYU

Posted 10.12.05
Breaking the language barrier

By Jason Boog

Newsday
October 5, 2005

Earlier this year, Officer Jackie O'Keefe resolved a domestic-violence case using nothing more than a flip-top cellular phone.

During the investigation, O'Keefe questioned a battered Chinese immigrant using a portable phone that connected her to interpreters in more than 150 languages - a powerful tool for this diverse neighborhood in Flushing. In 109th Precinct, 63 percent of the residents speak a language other than English at home, according to City Planning statistics.

"It's horrible to see someone crying and hurt when you can't speak back and forth," explained O'Keefe, 26. "I'm a police officer, and I couldn't do anything for her!"

The Chinese immigrant spoke into the cellular phone, and an operator instantly relayed the story back to O'Keefe in English. The abuser was arrested, rescuing the Chinese immigrant and her teenage daughter from years of violent abuse.

In diverse communities like Flushing, victims are often stranded behind the language barrier. As this interpreter-phone becomes a part of police work in the city, officers, interpreters, and city officials are debating how to reach out to these neighborhoods.

According to 2004 research conducted by the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence, 66 percent of "family-related" murder victims in New York City had never contacted the police - even as the situation escalated to homicide.

"There's a whole host of reasons why a victim won't report abuse including fear, shame, or cultural reasons," explained Yolanda B. Jimenez, the commissioner of the Mayor's office to Combat Domestic Violence in New York City. "We need to let people know they are not alone and help is available."

In March 2004, Jimenez's office utilized a competitive federal grant to equip patrol officers in the 109th and 115th precincts with special phones from Language Line Services. For the last 20 years, this company has developed "over-the-phone interpretation" services for public servants.

One year later, Jimenez's office coordinated a public-service campaign that encouraged immigrant victims to use these new resources, circulating explanatory materials in 16 languages within diverse communities.

Since the program began, officers have fielded more than 1,000 calls in 31 languages, including Farsi, Mandarin, Punjabi, Serbian, Somali, Tamil, Turkish and Urdu.

This summer, the program expanded to bring landline versions of the Language Line phone to every precinct in the city. In addition, 17 precincts now have the cellular phone for patrol officers to use.

Jimenez was born in Colombia, but moved to the city 35 years ago. Before joining the mayor's office, she served in various positions in the NYPD and confronted the language barrier looming between immigrants and police officers.

As deputy police commissioner of community affairs, Jimenez helped develop a cultural sensitivity and language program for police recruits, trying to bring her immigrant insights to police training.

"It's not just about the police understanding the community, but the community understanding the police - that's critical," Jimenez said.

Anthony Miranda learned Spanish from his Puerto Rican parents while growing up in the Bronx. He served as a police officer in the Bronx for 22 years, interpreting for fellow officers until he retired.

"I used Spanish on a daily basis as an officer, walking around the Hispanic community," he said, "If they know you speak Spanish, they will seek you out."

Now, the businessman is the executive chairman of the National Latino Officers Association, a group with 10,000 members in New York City. Composed of police officers, retired officers, and community leaders, the association monitors the relationships between Spanish-speakers and police officers.

Based on his experience, Miranda, 44, believes that the NYPD should recruit more bilingual officers and reward officers that help interpret on cases. "Why would you hire and pay interpreters when you know you have those abilities in your ranks?" he said.

Commissioner Jimenez disagreed with this strategy. "If it was just Spanish, that would be cost effective, but we're talking about a city with over 170 languages spoken on any given day - that's quite a challenge!"

Besides costs, some fear that using the phone could undermine the work professional interpreters do in the city.