https://local.nixle.com/alert/4699441/?sub_id=241886
Thursday June 9, 2011 1:51 PM EDT
NEW POLICE LANGUAGE SERVICE SAVES PERSON
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On Tuesday South Brunswick Police used a new language service to help locate a victim suffering a heart attack. At around 10am a woman called 911 from a cellphone seeking help. The dispatcher was unable to determine where the victim was or the problem. The dispatcher connected to a translator through a new program used by South Brunswick Police called Interpretalk. The translator was able to assist the dispatcher with identifying the location of the victim within two minutes of being on the call. When police officers and EMS arrived they found the 49-year-old victim was suffering a heart attack. The victim was taken to a local area hospital and is listed in good condition.
The new translation service – Interpretalk allows dispatchers and police officers to be able to communicate in 157 languages, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The service which has been available to the department since March of 2011 has been used 7 times. Chief Raymond Hayducka said, “Our community is diverse and we want to be able to assist anyone in need. This new tool gives officers and dispatchers another way to get help to people in need in an emergency.” He added, “This case clearly demonstrates the importance of being able to reach out to all aspects of our community.”
The service is used once a dispatcher or officer believes there is a language barrier. The dispatcher contacts Language Sevice Associates who provide the translation. Communication Center Supervisor James Deery said, “We could not understand where the victim was and her being on a cellphone made it more difficult. The service Interpretalk provided was quick and provided the lifesaving measures she needed.”
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Neat use of technology. From a network perspective, it’s really just a fancy three way calling option. Getting it all set up, agreed to, and paid for that was the heavy lifting. That’s effective use of technology.
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