Police Investigative Interviews and Interpreting: Context, Challenges, and Strategies

Police interviews with suspects and witnesses provide some of the most significant evidence in criminal investigations. Frequently challenging, they require special training and skills. This interaction process is further complicated when the suspect or witness does not speak the same language as the interviewer. A professional reference that can be used in police training or in any venue where an interpreter is used, Police Investigative Interviews and Interpreting: Context, Challenges, and Strategies provides solutions for the range of interview demands found in today’s multilingual environments.

Topics include:

• What interpreting is, the skills required, and the role of interpreters in any job context
• Investigative interviewing in law enforcement
• Concerns about interpreter intervention and its impact on interview outcomes

• The value of word-based over meaning-based interpretation in police and legal contexts
• Nonlinguistic factors that can have an impact on the interpreting process

The book explores the multi-faceted dynamics of conducting investigative interviews via interpreters and examines current investigative interviewing paradigms. It offers strategies to help interpreters and law enforcement officers and provides examples of interpreted interview excerpts to enable understanding. Although the subject matter and the examples in this book are largely limited to police interview settings, the underlying rationale applies to other professional areas that rely on interviews to collect information, including customs procedures, employer-employee interviews, and insurance claim investigations.

This book is part of the CRC Press Advances in Police Theory and Practice Series.

Sedat Mulayin is the current discipline head of translating and interpreting at RMIT University in Australia.

Miranda Lai is currently a lecturer and trainer in translating and interpreting at RMIT University in Australia.

Caroline Norma, Ph.D, is a lecturer in the Master of Translation Studies degree at RMIT University of Melbourne, Australia.