Mobile Stories
Over the Phone Interpretation for Police
Officer Jessica Trimoglie
New York City Police Officer Jessica Trimoglie didn’t speak Spanish, and the weeping Hispanic woman on a dark street corner in Queens didn’t speak any English.
Several years ago, this was a common problem for the New York City police department: a language barrier that prevented the police from being able to help the victim because they didn’t know what was wrong.
Today, all Trimoglie had to do was pull out her cell phone and push a button. She was instantly connected with a translator in California who was able to identify that the Hispanic woman had been the victim of sexual harassment. The translation service helped relay to the victim where she could get an order of protection and made her aware of a local non-governmental organization that could help her.
The 24-hour translation service has capabilities of over 150 languages and has been able to allow the police department to help victims of domestic abuse among immigrants, which had often gone unreported and unresolved because of the language barrier.
