After a night on a park bench, Maria Novak steals a woman’s purse in a local market. After a brief struggle, the woman falls to the ground and Maria is arrested. She is taken to the Police Station but speaking virtually no Spanish, doesn’t understand what is going on. She is put in a cell and meets Inspector Gómez, who discovers she speaks English.

Chapter three: A real nightmare
Chapter four: The arrest

Subtitles: EN - ES - RO - PO
The arrest at the market
In the Custody Suite

These are the events leading up to Maria's arrest.

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The Police officers have no access to an interpreter at the point of Maria’s arrest. Neither the officers nor Maria, therefore, can understand what is being said to them.

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Maria is going through detention procedures in the police station. She still has had no access to an interpreter and continues to have limited or no understanding of what is being said to her.

This stage of the encounter is stressful for all parties, detainee and police officers alike. Try to be patient despite the lack of communication; the detainee may have a great deal to say when the interpreter arrives.

When a detainee arrives at a police station the first task of the police is to determine which language the detainee wishes to use. The police can use the following tools to do this:

  • ID-card – passport –driver’s license – travel documents found on the detainee.
  • A world map, on which the detainee may identify where he/she comes from (particularly useful where the literacy of the detainee in doubt.)
  • A standard formulation prepared in multiple languages ( +/- 40 different languages) of the following text: 'I speak... ________ and I understand that an interpreter will be contacted.' The detainee is invited to identify his/her native language on the form.

Remember, when an interpreter does arrive, this may be the first time the detainee has been able to communicate fully with another person. They may therefore try to engage the interpreter in private conversation immediately. Prepare for this and ensure that you manage all communication with the detainee from the moment the interpreter arrives:

  • Don’t leave the interpreter alone with the detainee. Make sure that you are present at all times.
  • Watch out for conversation between the detainee and the interpreter that is not interpreted.
  • Don’t ask the interpreter to gather information from the detainee, to question the detainee or to take statements. Although you and the detainee cannot communicate directly, you still have full responsibility for all aspects of communication with the detainee at all times.
This is the end of Video 2. To continue to Video 3, select it from the top menu.

Additional information

How might the arresting officers adapt their procedures to dealing with a detainee with whom they cannot communicate?

The arrest of a suspect speaking a foreign language, when this arrest takes place outside the police station, is problematic for both the suspect and the police. The police will try to inform the suspect in brief about the reasons for the arrest and the legal proceedings to follow. In trying to do this, the police will look for an ID-card, passport or official document in order to identify a common language they can use to speak to the detainee.

The whole procedure and the rights of the detainee (for example, the right to the assistance of an interpreter, the right to a lawyer, the right to medical assistance) can only be fully explained at the police station, once a language the detainee understands is known and an interpreter is present.

Additional information

What are the legal implications of not being able to make a detainee understand the reason for their arrest and detention?

Depriving someone of his or her liberty has major legal significance. The detainee no longer has freedom of movement. Even though it might be impossible, due to the language problem, to communicate the following information at the moment of the arrest, the period of detention starts at this moment and NOT at the time that the detainee is informed at the police station in his/her native language of the reasons for the arrest.

The exact time at which the detention starts is very important, because from that moment certain statutory time limits begin to apply. This exact time of detention must therefore be stipulated on the official police documents recording the arrest and detention.