£2.2m West Midlands police bill for interpreters

The annual cost to police in the West Midlands of hiring interpreters to translate for foreign criminals, suspects and victims has rocketed by 25 per cent in five years to more than £2.2 million, new figures revealed today.

The figures are revealed at a time the force is facing cuts of £123 million to its budget - with Chief Constable Chris Sims suggesting 2,250 jobs may have to be cut.

Language experts providing translation services were paid £2,216,326 by West Midlands Police in 2009-10 0 enough to pay for 93 beat constables.

Figures disclosed to the Express & Star show an increase of £443,115 since 2005-06, and the cost has more than doubled since 2002.

Police bosses today blamed the rising cost on the region's "increasingly diverse" population.

Around £121,000 of the annual bill is for over-the-phone translation used by beat officers, but the majority of translators are hired for face-to-face meetings.

In Staffordshire, where minority ethnic groups account for only 2.5 per cent of the population, the police payout for translation services still topped £353,000 in 2009-10.

The bill, up from £342,000 in 2008-09, includes £19,000 for telephone translation.

West Midlands Chief Inspector Matt Markham said today: "The population of the West Midlands has become increasingly diverse in recent years and, naturally, that presents the force with communications challenges when dealing with people for whom English is not a fluent language."

By Alex Campbell