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City staff to pilot language-access service with police, committee to review amended plan
Summary
The advisory committee heard staff progress on a language-access plan prioritizing public safety, public health and the airport; staff said police will pilot a paid interpretation line and pursue ASL and autism-aware training before returning an amended draft to the committee.
Courtney O'Donnell, the assistant city manager, told the Advisory Committee on Racial Equity, Inclusion and Human Rights that an internal staff survey identified public safety, public health and the airport as priority areas for a citywide language-access plan. O'Donnell said the police department will pilot a paid phone-based interpretation service and that staff have identified a locally connected ASL and autism-support resource to advise training for first responders.
"We conducted that internal staff survey and we really did identify a need, especially in public safety," O'Donnell said, adding that the pilot with a language-line vendor will test how well the service meets on-the-fly needs and whether it should be expanded to other departments.
Committee members asked whether staff had quantified how much additional time interpretation adds to transactions; O'Donnell estimated the citywide frequency at "likely anywhere from 0 to 4 interactions across the entire city a week," with typical added time of a few minutes up to about 10 minutes per interaction. She cautioned that informal tools such as machine-translation services raise privacy concerns for sensitive information.
O'Donnell described an individual the police had identified who is fluent in ASL and experienced with the autistic community and said police plan to enroll a handful of officers in basic ASL and autism-awareness training to improve frontline interactions.
Committee members emphasized that training should include cultural awareness about deaf culture and about how sensory overstimulation affects people with autism. The committee asked staff to amend the draft language-access plan with staff input and return a more tangible update at the committee’s June meeting, timed to allow a GovOps presentation to the council in July.
Next steps: staff will refine the draft plan with department input, report back to the committee on June 23 and provide materials suitable for a July GovOps workshop.
