Federal, State, and local government agencies have legal obligations to Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Title VI also protects individuals from retaliation, coercion, and intimidation for asserting Title VI rights.
All agencies and organizations receiving federal funding should provide language access to LEP individuals. Police and sheriff departments in particular could create a Language Access Plan to set the guidelines to take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to programs and services to LEP individuals. Meaningful access refers to access that is not significantly restricted, delayed, or inferior as compared to services, programs, or activities provided to English-proficient individuals.
The most common resources for language access are utilizing a language line, hiring interpreters, or bilingual officers. Officers shouldn't be reliant on children, family members, involved parties, or neighbors to provide interpretation in any case, but in many of the domestic violence cases we have in our office, children have been utilized as interpreters at the scene. Can you imagine a child who has already been a witness to violence also interpreting for the officers? This practice is cruel and re-traumatizing besides being a civil rights violation. Also, many of our clients’ experiences include officers telling victims that they need to find their own interpreters. Sadly, without the proper guidance, supervision, training, and accountability, the chances of officers using children and other unqualified interpreters are higher and it has become an ongoing practice.
Grant funding is available for police agencies to provide language access services and departments are responsible for seeking those funds themselves. Police departments could use those funds to hire interpreters, which would be better than using bilingual officers. In immigrant communities, the fear of police is very common, and many immigrant victims we have worked with have mentioned to us that for them a bilingual officer is still a police officer even if they speak the same language. The mistrust and fear are still latent for many victims.
Children who witness domestic violence are negatively impacted. When children are asked to interpret incidents of domestic violence involving their parents they are further traumatized. Check out our new tool for law enforcement, first responders, and providers:
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