News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville Police Department will enter into a service agreement for language interpreting services.
Chief Randy Evans said that the agreement with Telelanguage will provide a translator for several languages when necessary.
“Victims or witnesses and even suspects,” Evans said. “We have to have that clear communication to ensure that we’re making the right decisions as we move forward with the case.”
Evans said that the service will also be available for the use of all departments. He said that previously the service was provided through Putnam County 911.
Evans said the new agreement will use a custom rate with no fees. He said that calls in Spanish will cost $0.89 per minute and all other languages will cost $0.99 cents per minute. He said that departments could also use the service for remote meetings at $69.99 per hour.
Evans said that while it’s not a service often implemented, it is an important tool for the department to have.
“We do have some bilingual employees that assist us on occasion so that kind of reduces the cost,” Evans said. “And we’ve used some other people in the community to assist us but this just gives us that ability 24/7, 365 to be able to make that call and provide that service.”
