Leeds police unhappy with ALS
Yesterday morning I had two pleading phone calls from DCs from Leeds, who desperately needed a Polish interpreter for a court session in the morning to deal with an extended detention hearing for a suspect arrested on suspicion of a serious assault. They told me that ALS had let them down and they were unhappy with their service. One of them said that professional interpreters were greatly missed. I sympathised with their situation, but had to refuse as firstly, don't work for ALS and secondly, I had other commitments.
One of them even suggested that they should pay me directly from their petty cash funds. I apologised and said that I could not help, even though I would be more than happy to attend the police station and court if the Framework Agreement was abandoned.
The saddest thing is that they recognise how good we were and say that we are greatly missed when they need us because Applied Language Solutions/Capita have let them down, so how can other police forces even consider joining this insane Framework Agreement?
