Translating for A Non-English Speaking Suspect At a Police station
The changes update the codes to reflect changes in legislation, particularly police powers, and the developments and improvements in operational police practice and procedures, particularly concerning the care of persons in custody, which have taken place since the previous major revisions in 1995.
The provisions of Codes C and E include a range of safeguards for suspects when they are questioned by police. The provisions governing the conduct and tape recording of interviews help police to ensure that interview evidence is admissible in court.
Code C, paragraph 13 deals specifically with interpreters and sets out the
circumstances under which police must call for an interpreter. Paragraph 13.4
sets out the method for recording (taking) a statement from a non-English speaking
suspect; as follows:
";13.4 In the case of a person making a statement other than in English:
(a) the interpreter shall record the statement in the language it is made;
(b) the person shall be invited to sign it;
(c) an official English translation shall be made in due course.";
The interpreter must be allowed sufficient time to make a written note of each
question and answer.
The general rule for witness statements from non-English speakers is that the witness must have read and confirmed by signature their written statement in their own language, and this can subsequently be formally translated. A signature on a statement which has already been translated, and which therefore the witness cannot have read and understood, can make such a statement inadmissible at court. This has been confirmed in the cases of Saifi v (1) Governor of HM Prison Brixton (2) Union of India (2001) TLR 24/1/2001: (2001) Crim LR 653: (2001): 4 All ER 168 and R v Raynor (2000) TLR 19/9/2000.
The situation is exactly the same where the statement is from a suspect and provided within a taped interview. A suspect^s statement made other than in English can only be admitted as evidence in a criminal trial if it is written in the language which the person speaks, the person has been allowed to read it and confirm that they understand what it says and signed it (separate rules apply if the person cannot or refuses to read it). When the original statement has been recorded and signed in this way, a translation can be made and used in court.
Most police interviews nowadays are tape-recorded but the same principles would apply to any written statement made by a suspect under caution.
Inspector Brian Roberts and Amanda Clement
Criminal Justice Office Linguistic & Forensic Medical Services
Metropolitan Police Service
