Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 2 · column 6 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
Sheriffs
office taps
interpretor
service
By Kevin Allen Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office employees have a new resource to help them during interactions with people who do not speak English.
The office has signed up for an account with Language Line, a phone service that provides interpreters for more than 170 languages from Afrikaans to Yupik. The center is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so officers will never be without access to an interpretor.
When a non-English speaker is involved in a crime or an emergency or is a witness to an incident, the reporting officer will be able to call Language Line and an interpretor will speak to the nonEnglish speaker over the phone.
The RCSO's account does not have any start-up or maintenance fees associated with it, said Maj. Chris Williams. The office will pay only when they use the service, which costs $1.60 per minute.
“It’s an invaluable resource to have,” Williams said. “We may not use it that often, but it’s good to have when you need it.”
Williams said the sheriff’s office has had only a few situations involving people who could not speak any English.
One of those instances happened in June, when 27year-old Alejandro Ramirez drowned in a pond on Rock Mills Road. Deputies had difficulty understanding the other four adults at the scene, Williams said. Ultimately, a Spanish tutor from Remington was contacted to interpret the details of the incident.
“It hasn't been that many [situations], but it’s obviously something we need to have,” Williams said.
E-mail the reporter at kallenQtimespapers. com
72.0%