Monday, August 7, 2006
By FRANK TANKARD
The Kansas City Star
Two people are on the phone. One is frantic. One
is calm. The frantic one speaks only Spanish. The other, only English.
With more Spanish speakers moving to the Kansas
City area, this scenario plays out often at local
911 call centers. Dispatchers are turning to
third-party translators several times a day, and
the value of knowing the language has skyrocketed.
In intense situations the kind where every word
and every minute counts the language barrier can
lead to major problems. Though local police
departments report no specific instances, tragedy has been reported elsewhere.
Few situations are worse than an incident three
years ago when 19 illegal immigrants died after
being trapped in a sweltering trailer in Texas.
One of those trapped had placed a cell phone call
that could have saved several lives. But his call
ended before he could get a translator, and his
next call lost its connection. Nearly three hours
passed before authorities found the trailer on another tip.
Checks with several Kansas City area police
departments showed that few dispatchers are
fluent in Spanish, and none of Kansas City’s 85
emergency call-takers know it. Many departments
rely heavily on California-based Language Line
Services, which employs about 2,000 translators
trained in 150 languages. It is used by all metro
911 centers and costs $1.50 to $2.50 a minute.
Kansas City dispatcher Stephanie Fagan said that
sometimes when a non-English speaker calls, she
can get the necessary information by talking to a child.
We’ve got a lot of little-kid translation that goes on, she said.
But more often, she must call Language Line.
In the time it takes to reach a translator
ranging from a few seconds to a minute Fagan
does everything she can to keep callers on the
line. Uno momento, is one phrase she knows, and
translator is a word she says most callers understand.
Fagan estimated that 5 percent to 10 percent of
callers hang up before they get a translator.
Stephen Hoskins, a communications supervisor with
the Kansas City Police Department, said that can be troubling.
The average 911 dispatcher probably has an
overriding concern that the caller might hang up
before they get a translator on the line,
Hoskins said. Occasionally that does happen. And
anytime something like that does occur, it does causes some stress.
Sgt. Mike Butaud, spokesman for the Olathe Police
Department, which employs one Spanish-speaking
dispatcher out of 14, said that in those
situations, the dispatcher has to rely on the
tone of the call to decide what type of help is needed.
Generally, if we get a call on 911, were going
to send an officer out anyway to that location,
regardless of whether we can understand the person or not, he said.
Ana Martens, the only Spanish-speaking dispatcher
with the Lenexa Police Department, said that when
a bilingual dispatcher handles the calls, things go faster.
Martens, a unit supervisor, not only handles all
the calls from Spanish speakers during her shift,
but gets calls on the non emergency line and even
walk-up visits from people who have heard about her and need help.
Learning the basics
Area police departments know the value of
dispatchers who can speak a second language.
Overland Park pays its two Spanish-speaking
dispatchers an extra $75 to $100 a month through
a bilingual compensation program.
Mid-America Regional Council offers two crash
courses in basic Spanish through Kansas City
Kansas Community College, where dispatchers learn
phrases such as, Do you have an emergency? and What is your address?
Stephanie Marquez, who teaches the courses, said
the goal is to get dispatchers to the point where
they can handle calls themselves.
We’ve found through teaching the class that
sometimes these Spanish speakers are on hold for
a large amount of time, she said. The class has
reduced the need for Language Line. They say,
hey, we can be taking care of a lot of things on
our own. Eventually, they could be saving someone’s life.
© 2006 Kansas City Star Used with permission
