>> just a second. we useless have the smartphones out that have google language transation on them so we will figure out a way to calculate that in to how often the officers use the language transation on the phones because it puts the languages of -- is it 19? 19 languages are in the phone? i believe it's 19 languages are in the phone which may not make the officers conversant but it can certainly get the question and get there and save some time. >> are you ready? >> yeah, i'm ready. >> is the volume on? >> yeah. >> (inaudible). >> immigrants from all over the world and tourist destination

for more. nearly half of the families of san francisco speak a language other than english at home. whether contacting a traffic stop. >> >> [inaudible] a language barrier can jeopardize you or your partner's life -- [inaudible] greater if there is a language barrier and oftentimes this is the case. this video will help you investigate routine calls involving limited english proficiency individuals. bottom line when the case involves someone with limited or no will ability to speak english getting a bilingual officer to the scene or use the language line and to

keep everyone safe. >> how many of you told a driver to stay in the car only to be confused and open the car door? language dare barriers can do this. >> >> and we will look how a barrier affects the officer to stop the aggressive in this domestic violence call. >> hello officers. what's going on? did you call the police? >> yeah, everything's fine now. >> what happened? >> just my wife. she's on medication. she's under stress and you know anything can really set her off but we just had a

little fight but everything is fine. we're calmed down. >> what is your name? >> [inaudible] >> do you have id on you? >> yeah. >> what happened to your ear? >> oh my wife i was trying to walk away and she grabbed at me. >> do you need an ambulance? >> no. >> where is your wife? >> she should be in the kitchen. >> did you hit her? >> no. >> any weapons in the house ? >> [inaudible] >> you're on probation for what? >> [inaudible] >> hold on one second. all right. >> [inaudible] >> adam john, robert -- >> do you have kids together? >> [inaudible] >> how long you been married? >> [inaudible] >> a couple years. any previous incidents like this? >> no. she's just under a lot of stress.

>> again i am officer clark with the san francisco police department. we got called out here because it was a little bit of a problem -- problemma. >> no problem, no problem. >> were you fighting with your husband? [speaking spanish] . no arguing? >> no, no. >> are you sure? >> yeah. >> okay. when we talked to her husband out there he has scratched on his hand. do you remember whether or not you scratched him? >> no, no, no. >> okay. did your husband hit you? [speaking spanish] okay. are you taking any medicine, medication? i mean there is some here. is this yours? >> yeah. >> is it?

>> yeah. >> okay. your husband told us you have been problems with your medication? >> no, no problem. >> [speaking spanish] >> yes. >> you speak english? >> yeah. >> so you are understanding everything? okay. do me a favor. just go right here. just wait. i'm going to go talk to my partner. okay? >> okay. >> [inaudible] no prior calls to this address. he's the one with injuries. >> there is a language barrier. she says she's speaks english and she's saying "yes or no" and i don't know if she is understanding me. let's hit up dispatch. there is a new system and they will know if there is a certified speaking officer and if no one on duty we will use

the language tool. sounds good? >> sounds good. >> [speaking spanish] >> speaking in spanish and also learned from the victim that the husband threatened her and put her in a choke hold when she went to call the police. >> [speaking spanish] >> it can be difficult to identify the domnary aggressor in a domestic violence incident of the if the domestic violence calls involve limited english speakers it's even more challenging. general order requires that officers to provide language assistance to limited english proficiency individuals they encounter or lep person requires language assistance. who are limited

english proficiency individuals? lep describes individuals whose primary language is not english. these individuals have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand english. to provide language assistance from a qualified bilingual officer or civilian intrrmenter and if one is not available use language line. let's look at the warning signs during this investigation. the first sign was the 911 call itself. the officers were dispatched to a male and female yelling in spanish. no response to call back. when the 911 call indicates that the individual speaks a language other than english that's a sign that language assistance is necessary. another sign

involves the woman mixing english and spanish together. stressful situations individuals will use the language they are most comfortable speaking. you want to rely on a bilingual officer or interpreter to communicate with the individual with the language they know best. another sign is when the individual speaks in fragmented sentences. unless you're opening over ended question a language barrier could be overlooked. let's look at the contact with the husband. the first officer asked open ended and clarifying questions. what is going on? what happens to your arm? what do you mean? open ended questions requires the husband to give more than a one word response. detailed answers give information to the

officer about the ability to speak english and the second officer to question the woman. were you fighting with her husband? do you have cuts or scratching? did he hit you? it requires one word answers or short answers. the officer never let the woman explain what happened. this can disrupt the vtionz. officers can miss observed signs that an individual cannot communicate in english. batters are frequently calling 911 first. [inaudible] sidewalk or front porch and portray themselves as victims. the first person at the scene is the batterer the officers can convey to the victim that they favor that person and their account of the event. this perception of bias is greater when the victim understands and

speaks or understands little english. in the investigation you just saw the only individual with a visible injury was the husband. not until a spanish speaking officer interviewed the wife did she have the opportunity to explain that she had scratched her husband only after he put her in a choke hold and the consequences of arresting the wrong individuals are significant. batterers are awarded. children associate the police with the wrongful arrest of their parents. in jail a wrongful arrest domestic violence victim can be detained and deported. the victim might not call the police in the future. other domestic violence victims will fear calling the police because hearing about

the victim being wrongfully arrested. arresting the victim because a language barrier is to victimize that person twice. make sure you get the language assistance you need to complete an accurate investigation. >> in this segment we will look how the language barriers and other factors may affect the officers ability to investigate a elder abuse call. >> speaking foreign language). >> hello. hi. >> [speaking foreign language] . >> hi, hi. >> [speaking foreign language] . >> calm down for a second. come over and talk to me. come over here. okay. >> [inaudible] >> okay. [speaking foreign language] >> what's going on here?

>> she just got confused officer and got upset about it. >> who is this person to you? >> it's my mom. >> anybody else in the house? >> no just me and i'm the one that takes care of her. >> what happened today? >> she thinks i'm taking her money and to go shopping for her. >> is this the first time you used the accounts? >> i always have. >> do you have written documents? >> yes. >> are they here? >> no. >> where are they at? >> wells fargo. >> does he take medication? >> yes. >> for what? >> alzheimer's. >> can i take a look? >> yes. >> is this even necessary? >> yes it is sir. can you tell me why the medication was

completely empty? >> yeah, i was planning on picking up some later. >> how does he have access to the medicine? >> she uses a foot stool to get up there. >> has she gotten hurt before doing that? >> no. >> what about the fridge? >> yeah, sure. >> [speaking foreign language] >> just relax. >> [speaking foreign language] >> we're going to help you. i am here to help you. you called the police today? you called me here? >> yeah, yeah. >> what happened? what made you call today? >> [speaking foreign language] >> okay. is that your son? >> yeah. my son, my son, my son. >> what happened? >> my son, my money, my money, no money. he took my money. >> how did he take your money? >> [speaking foreign language] >> can you explain why the fridge is completely empty?

>> look i haven't had a chance to go food shopping all right. i am the one that takes care of her and i work. >> when did you go shopping last? >> a few days ago. >> when were you going to go shopping next? >> today after i pick up the refills. >> do you always wait to go shopping? >> like i said ienl the only one that takes care of her and do it when i get a chance. >> so when you're working there is no one with her? >> she is all right. >> [speaking foreign language] >> okay. okay. >> no, no -- get, get him. >> okay. do you speak canon ease mandarin? >> yeah. >> relax. let me call someone to talk to you. okay. someone is going to come and talk to

you. just relax. >> [speaking foreign language] >> she's hasn't eaten in days. >> okay. we were looking and no food in the kitchen and looks malmuirished. >> and she hasn't taken the meds. >> there are no meds and she can't get them and they're up at top and the money. that's what shes of talking about. >> oh he took the money and he gambles and took it. >> yeah. that makes sense. >> [inaudible] yeah, get her checked out. thanks for coming out and i will tell brian what we have.

>> no problem. >> elder abuse is ever reported under reported crime in california and of ros face challenges with this. these obstacles are even greater in these cases. let's review these warning signs of a language barrier. the first was the 911 call itself. the police were dispatched to possible 418, 910, people yelling in a foreign language and tells officers they will likely need assistance at the scene. and this information puts the officer on notice that the call involves a person with limited or no english ability of the when these individuals call 911 and speak in their own

language they're letting dispatch know that this is their primary language. this is the language best for accurate and reliable communication. when the officers arrived on scene and knocked on the door they could hear yelling in another language. as the officers tried to talk to the woman she switched back and forth between languages. the woman kept repeating certain phrases in english. individuals that speak limited english will use phrases they have used successfully in the past. another warning sign an intrrmentd interpreter was necessary was gestures and lead her out of the room and where to sit. he recognized the language

barrier. another warning sign was that the woman couldn't answer the questions. additionally the officer used more and more leaning questions that he filled in with his own answers. individuals that speak limited english or no english are more susceptible to elder abuse and this will impact the investigation. in the call the officers did several important things during their preliminary investigation. they identified the son as the sole caretaker of his mother; that she suffered from alzheimer's and left her unintended while she worked full time. asking to see the medication and look in the fridge they learned there was

no food and the medication ran out. they observed that the mother had poor hygiene, was agitated and confused and believed her son was stealing money from her. they also recognized the victim's primary language was different. using a bilingual officer they were able to overcome the language barrier and conduct a successful elder abuse investigation. always error on the side of caution. when you see any sign of a language barrier request a bilingual officer or qualified civilian interpreter and if not use the language line. common signs see department bulletin in the language sentences. >> domestic violence and elder abuse crimes are some of the most challenging cases to

investigate. when these cases involve individuals whose primary language isn 't english you will need assistance with these cases. and this will make a fundamental difference in the quality of your investigation and in the victim's lives and the successful outcome of these cases. [applause] >> you know you want to clap. >> it's okay.

>> well, i just want to thank you very much. this is incredible. this has come a long way because of you and these folks here, and we started with this many years ago and i have to tell you there's a lot of work put into this. all these folks here from the different consortiums, from the occ -- please come forward and we have to thank you for your hard work. as you come forward really -- it's incredible -- it's great to show the public the training video so thank you. please identify who you are. >> i am [inaudible] and with the consortium. i have the best job in the world and we brought

concerns to this commission and the chief and i think we're ready for a new day so i think we have just seen so much progress, cooperation, and it makes a huge difference for the advocates and the 25,000 survivors of the kids that they serve every year and i couldn't be more proud of the work and pleased with the partnership. >> thank you for what you do. before we go to the next person and i think it's important -- i don't normally do this and this is commissioner chan's project and she deserves a round of applause because she pushed this through. >> i worked on it before and the commission and the chief has been supportive and commissioner loftus joined us this here so it's great to have another commissioner on board and definitely a community partnership. this group meets every month and a model how we work with the department. >> i am lisa hoffman and work for emergency communications

and the 911 center director and i have the best job beverly. i often say we live in a community of no and i live in a world of yes and even though i hear no, i get it turned around to yes and i have been fortunate to work with the commission, the chief -- you're wonderful, officer chang, it was fantastic. everyone did such a great job and every time i heard no, i didn't take it seriously and went ahead and we made changes and fortunate to be part of this and i thank you. >> thank you. >> [inaudible] from office of citizen's complaint. this is the best part of my job where i work with the groups and the chief and the staff and do something really positive and amazing partnership. there's a number of groups not here tonight. they couldn't be here so those individuals -- there's other staff from asian pacific

outreach. they have been here for a decade. sf war -- they have been here with a decade working on these projects. the da's victim witness project. they have been at the table this entire time as well and i am sure i am leaving out people. i want to thank the chief for keeping -- keeping the shot light on it and you talk about these issues and being important and [inaudible] making sure the project was completed and captain lazzaro and said it would be done and his people working on it and the video tom dean and i appreciate the support of this commission. >> i am [inaudible] larg sen

from asian pacific islander outreach and i want to thank commissioner chan and sfpd and everyone involved in the project and samra and bridged the worlds that we operate in. the people in the video are my clients. they're the people i work with everyday and they're the people i am supposed to protect and serve just as the way you do it and i am happy to be a part of it. >> thank you. commissioner loftus. >> you want me to say something? i guess i am predictable in my old age. >> i have to say i know we're not a culture that likes to spend time on things that work and successes and things really

beautiful but to sit in mission statement -- this was glamorous work over the last year. mission statement. it's officer chang and others sitting around and saying what hapgdz when you get to a scene? what will make a officer work with it? and samra would think about the image and beverly would say this is what our clients are experiencing and this is bar none one of the best things i was part of it watched on this commission and collaborative and a lot of women so i'm going giving a shout out to the sister hood and the men were wonderful too. no offense. >> none taken. >> this started for me at the joint commission of the police commission and the commission on the status of women where this issue came up where we were

saying there were cases that commissioner chan had seen and beverly confirmed this with me that women were arrested because of a language barrier and not the dominant aggressivor in these cases and another way they were preying upon the women in san francisco and never okay and bev you're right and commend the chief for putting his muscle behind it and all of the department's muscle to make this happen in a here. that video was exceptional quality. you wrote the script. >> not alone though. >> you did it collaboratively. i just have to say this is absolutely to commissioner chan's point a model to get things done and congratulations to all of you and i was honored to be part of it.

>> commisioner dejesus. >> i want to say well done. i am happy to be on the commission and the collaboration and the community group and the hard work you could be done. i think could edit it down and have psa's put out and the information is really critical and not just used for training. it actually should be used to notify the public as well how serious this is and especially the elderly abuse one. it was a good eye opener what to look for. people don't know. there's a lot of community members and friends that can look out for those things too and well done. i think you observe a merit award. i do and just thank you for all you have done. thanks. >> thank you. dr. marshall. >> yeah, my comment is obviously it's a great piece. thank you. i would like everybody to see it because i don't think anybody has any idea of the situations

that officers walk into. that's some stuff, really. those that work in the community and kind get this stuff all the time, but when we hear -- when we talk about officers dealing with homeless situations and these situations that's not easy stuff to do, so i think it's really good not only for the obvious purposes but also to let folks see just what the officers walking into routinely. i mean this is a routine situation and training and sensitivity to deal with these situations. i mean obviously there is the language barriers but just the situations -- and these are family members. these are close relationships so i think it would surprise a lot of people when they watch what the officers are dealing with on a daily basis. they know about the homicides and this and that

but i don't think they know about this situation and i think it's a great job showing that. >> thank you. >> ms. frankel. >> thank you. it is of course has been a collaborative effort but on behave of joyce hicks,let the director of the occ and samra and i want to give a shout out and working hard on the project and proud to see what was done and thank you to everyone that cooperated. >> commissioner kingsley. >> that's not a lot to be said because i would like to echo what my fellow commissioners said and applaud your extraordinary work on this. it is truly a wonderful piece and the acting was fabulous. it was very realistic on everyone's part and of course the script was extraordinary and really captured the essence