West Yorkshire Police update on using interpreters
Under the Home Office CLEP programme, every force is being encouraged to review their current approach to how language services are sourced. This has resulted in changes to the commercial agencies used, or in some cases police forces using agencies for the first time. There are a number of suppliers who provide language services through a managed booking service within the Criminal Justice Sector (CJS), Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service, the Crown Prosecution Service and Her Majesty’s Prison Service.
West Yorkshire Police has already changed the way it uses the services of interpreters (both face to face and telephone) and translators and has a managed service in place using a single provider.
From 1st April 2017, Language Empire now provides qualified and vetted interpreters and translators to West Yorkshire Police. All linguists booked through Language Empire for police assignments will be allocated work based on the tier (level) that they are assigned. This will ensure consistency and quality of services provided throughout the framework agreement. This requirement includes linguists who have previously provided their language services to the sector, are DPSI qualified (plus other specification requirements) and registered on professional linguist databases including the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI).
New standards of vetting were introduced by the National Police Chiefs Council languages lead in August 2016 and since that time, the national requirement is that ALL interpreters who provide face to face interpreting and transcription services must be vetted to NPPV Level 3. Interpreters must ensure that their vetting status is uprated to NPPV Level 3 and not wait until the expiry date of existing vetting. Professional Interpreters bodies, and suppliers will be able to provide further information to interpreters considering working in the police environment.
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