By CASEY NEILL
SPRINGVALE Police Station is trialling an Australian-first “electronic triage” system to provide better service and save thousands of dollars on interpreter fees.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Lucinda Nolan launched the pilot language kiosk last Tuesday.
She said it would be an initial contact point and presented a list of inquiries in 12 languages.
Ms Nolan said analysis found common inquiries included reporting a traffic incident and making a firearms inquiry.
The kiosk then prints a ticket to be handed to a police officer that indicates the selected inquiry in English, effectively removing the need for a translator.
This is the first time a police service in Australia has used the technology.
Senior Sergeant Alan Dew said a review of monthly interpreter bills revealed many requests were dealt with in less than five minutes.
“We broke down the bills by language and selected the 12 most common for the language kiosk trial,” he said.
“The main motivation was to provide better service to the community.
“Of course there will still be instances when translators are required and we’ll continue to use them as needed.”The kiosk languages include Vietnamese, Khmer, Cantonese, Mandarin, Burmese, Farsi, Pashto, Hindi, Arabic, Tamil, Dari and Singhalese.
