The National Police Agency (NPA) has launched a pilot project for online language interpretation, aiming to help foreign residents report crimes and deal with judicial procedures, the agency said yesterday.
The project would be conducted in six local jurisdictions from next month to February next year, said Yu Jen-pai (游任白), an officer in the agency’s International Affairs Division.
The project is a collaboration of the police departments in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as Nantou, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, Yu said.
Interpreters would provide assistance through an online system to foreigners, helping them report crimes, fill out judicial documents and when being questioned as part of an investigation, he said.
“The service will ensure that foreigners’ language rights are guaranteed,” Yu said. “It will also protect the rights of crime victims and of those being questioned as part of an investigation, as well as criminal suspects. It will improve communication and case handling by law enforcement officers when dealing with foreigners.”
The scarcity of interpreters at rural police precincts makes the project necessary, the agency said.
The project would also include classes for police officers, judicial interpreter testing and work on telecommunication links, it said.
It would also help officers deal remotely with people with unknown COVID-19 infection status during the pandemic, it added.
However, the agency still prefers in-person interpretation, if possible, Yu said.
NPA data showed that there are 1,384 police interpreters in Taiwan, including 1,096 for Southeast Asian languages such as Vietnamese, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia and local languages of the Philippines.
While most other interpreters speak English, French, Spanish or Italian, the pool also includes native speakers of Russian or other eastern European languages, Yu said.
The project would be evaluated next year, and the NPA hopes that it can expand the service and attract more interpreters to join, Yu said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS