Lingo of the law

By CASEY NEILL

SPRINGVALE Police Station will be the first in the state to trial a language kiosk.
Senior Sergeant Alan Dew said the touch screen would grace the station’s foyer in coming months for a three to six month pilot.
“Springvale has been selected because we have one of the highest usages of telephone interpreters in the state,” he said.
“The aim of them is to improve customer service to people from common non-English speaking backgrounds within Greater Dandenong.”
Sen Sgt Dew said analysis showed most telephone calls to interpreters were for very short periods.
The screen will offer different languages and common queries, and users can follow the prompts for information about property, appointments, neighbourhood disputes and more.
“That will enable us to handle their inquiry much quicker without resorting to telephone interpreters,” Sen Sgt Dew said.
“We’ve got our ideas about what sort of queries we should address, but we’re interested to hear from anyone in the community.”
Email springvale.uni@police.vic.gov.au to contribute.