The King County Sheriff’s Office will improve its language access as part of an agreement with U.S. Justice Department over allegations the agency violated federal law by discriminating against people with limited English proficiency.
As part of the agreement, which details a two-year plan, the Sheriff’s Office will hire a language access program manager and prohibit the use of children, family, bystanders and electronic translation tools like Google Translate for language assistance in most situations.
The Sheriff’s Office also will identify and translate vital documents, such as Miranda warnings and complaint forms. The language program manager will hire a language access liaison for each precinct or contract city.
“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that our law enforcement agencies are able to protect and serve all people in their community, including crime victims, regardless of their ability to speak English fluently,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.
The agreement is part of a larger Justice Department initiative, announced in December 2022, to push law enforcement agencies to comply with language access obligations.
At the time, the federal department announced a similar agreement with Denver police after investigators found officers used biased bystanders or children to interpret, or no interpreter at all, resulting in officers arresting Burmese and Rohingya-speaking residents without informing them of the allegations against them in a language they could understand.
The agreement in King County stems from a complaint filed in November 2021 by an unnamed, community-based organization with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, according to the agreement.
The complaint indicated the Sheriff’s Office and Burien Police Department “may have engaged in national origin discrimination against an individual with limited English proficiency,” violating the Civil Rights Act, according to the agreement. Further details were not released as part of the agreement.
After follow-up conversations with the complainant and other organizations representing people with limited English proficiency, the DOJ reached out to the Sheriff’s Office in a “pre-investigative capacity.”
The Sheriff’s Office receives federal funds, so the DOJ has jurisdiction to investigate the agency and seek compliance with the law.
In lieu of further investigation, the Sheriff’s Office agreed to take “proactive and voluntary steps to ensure meaningful access” to people with limited English proficiency, according to the agreement.
The agency will also engage in community outreach, develop a training plan, ensure the complaint process is accessible, and potentially create a bilingual testing qualification program for deputies, according to a Thursday news release from the Justice Department.
“Today’s agreement with the King County Sheriff’s Office helps build community trust,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Tessa M. Gorman said in a statement. “I am pleased that as soon as the problem was presented to the Sheriff’s Office, the agency realized it had to improve policies around language access and immediately agreed to make changes.”
About 31% of people over the age of 5 in King County speak a language other than English at home, according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data, and about 11% overall say they speak English less than “very well.” Among the most commonly spoken languages after English in King County are Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi and Russian.
Law enforcement agencies nationwide have struggled to keep up with the changing demographics of their communities, according to a 2007 report by the Vera Institute of Justice think tank and the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
Language barriers put residents at risk of misunderstanding officer instructions during tense encounters, and prevent officers from gathering evidence or providing protection. Not translating threats, such as reports of domestic violence, accurately and quickly can have tragic consequences. Bystanders or family members may not be qualified or reliable interpreters, may struggle to translate certain terms or rights, or become distressed recounting crimes.
Michael Itti, executive director of the Chinese Information and Service Center in Seattle, said it’s common for immigrant residents to avoid calling 911 because they’re unsure whether they can report a crime in their language.
“I think it’s good to hear that the Sheriff’s Office recognized the need, [but] it can’t just be on paper, it has to be implemented and part of a culture change,” Itti said. Deputies have to be trained to know when someone may need language assistance, and be proactive in offering such services, he added.
Itti is hopeful the agency’s agreement with the Justice Department will encourage other police agencies across the county to boost their language services.