Study title

During the TOCAT project, we conducted multiple interviews and focus groups with frontline workers involved in police and related investigations across languages. Some of these were for information, to understand the experiences of interpreters in particular. These are included in this data collection. Others were designed for understanding by the UK police, Home Office and College of Policing, to inform internal training and guidance. Most of these were with practising investigators who required guarantees of confidentiality in order to discuss live investigations. These are therefore not included. In addition, many interpreters refused permission to share the data in their interviews due to their professional duty of client confidentiality. These are therefore also not included. Finally, some police and Home Office trainers were interviewed. Their interviews are not included as the number of trainers is very small and the individuals could be identified from their responses. The interviews included here were all qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in person or by phone. All the interviews included here were conducted by the Principal Investigator, Prof. Joanna Drugan. They were transcribed by a team of trained transcribers and checked and anonymised by the PI prior to upload to remove any details which might identify individuals (e.g. the language spoken, as this is a very small specialised field in the UK where professionals are in close contact with one another).Our societies are more diverse than ever - more than 300 languages are spoken in the UK today. This increased diversity has had a major impact for the police. Officers now have to investigate and combat organised crime 'networks' whose members communicate across multiple languages. Police therefore increasingly need translators to be able to investigate serious crimes such as people trafficking and child sexual exploitation. This involves significant challenges, including cost, number of...