Under the project, instant telephone interpretation services in seven common NEC languages, namely Urdu, Nepali, Punjabi, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai and Tagalog, will be provided through teleconferencing for the NEC community who make reports to report rooms. The interpretation service will help frontline officers grasp the gist of the reports more effectively and render appropriate assistance.

 

Chaired by KW Regional Commander (RC) Cheung Kwai-kee, who is Chairman of the Force Working Group on NEC, Project "TRANSLINK" was launched on November 17 at Yau Tsim District Headquarters. The guests attending the launching ceremony included Yau Tsim Mong (YTM) and Sham Shui Po (SSPO) District Officers, Mrs Aron Laura Liang and Mr Mok Kwan-yu respectively, Chairman of YTM District Fight Crime Committee (DFCC), Mr Chan Siu-tong, Vice-chairman of YTM DFCC, Mr Leung Chi-ming, Vice-chairman of SSPO DFCC, Mr Li Hon-hung, Chairman of YTM District Council, Mr Chung Kong-mo, YTM District Councillor, Mr Hung Chiu-wah, representatives from Home Affairs Department, Hong Kong Christian Service (HKCS) and NEC groups, as well as NEC community leaders.

 

At the ceremony, Acting KW Superintendent (Operations) Cheung Wai-wah introduced the functions of the project and screened a video on NEC citizens making reports to report rooms in person and by telephone. 

 

Trial of Project "TRANSLINK" will be conducted in the report rooms in Sham Shui Po, Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Mai Tei, which are home to many NEC citizens. The three report rooms have been equipped with teleconferencing facilities and officers there can connect with the interpretation centre of CHEER by pressing the key of a telephone. 

 

The interpretation service is available for non-emergency reports made to report rooms in persons or by phone, such as matters of a miscellaneous nature, loss or theft, and request for police assistance. The CHEER interpretation centre operates daily from 8am to 10pm, except public holidays. Outside this period, the standby personnel at the Head Office of HKCS will assist in finding an appropriate interpreter.

 

For promoting the interpretation service, KW has designed posters, pamphlets and cards, which will be displayed or distributed in the report rooms. Some of promotional materials are available in the above seven NEC languages to help the NEC community understand the service provided.

 

During the launching ceremony, RC Cheung took the opportunity to thank all the stakeholders concerned for supporting the project and looked forward to providing better services to the NEC community through different forms of co-operation with different parties.

 

Following the launching ceremony, NEC community leaders welcomed Project "TRANSLINK" for addressing the needs of NEC citizens who have difficulties in speaking Chinese or English and for ensuring that they would have access to report room services.