Muhammad Gamal - Humanities

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664depth (Gray: 2010) challenging linguistic evidence presented by theprosecution.Basically in live operations, the interpreter becomes part of the police, and isengaged to get a certain task done. When it goes successfully and smoothlythere is little concern and it is seen as an ordinary community interpreting task.It is however, when it does not go successfully and smoothly thatcomplications appear and questions are raised. One such complication iswhen resistance or violence occurs and the interpreter becomes involveddirectly or indirectly. Quite often, the interpreter is blamed for the decoding ofthe conversation and in unfavorable circumstances may be abused bysuspects. Likewise, in a house raid with older persons, females, youngchildren, and several other people present, communication may easily breakdown and violence occurs. Very little information is known on the position ofthe interpreter.Quite often, the question that springs to student’s minds is: what if theinterpreter is hurt? Still, there is no solid information. The more vexing questionhowever is: to what physical extent can the interpreter help the police? Forexample: is it still within the interpreter’s brief to carry the police’s recordingdevice to be used in the interview? Can the interpreter touch and handleexhibits seized at the house? In sifting through Arabic language material (as interrorism cases) can the interpreter touch, pile up and carry the seizedmaterial? What does the law say about the interpreter assisting the police byshifting the police vehicle outside the house where the search warrant is beingexecuted? Police protocol, the interpreting literature and forensic linguistic
665research are all vague on the legal position, ethical responsibilities and theprofessional conditions of interpreting in live police operations.Generally speaking, police do not like to have interpreters on liveoperations. There are several reasons for this reluctance and some of thegood reasons are: safety of the interpreter, exposure to police practices andmodus operandi, security clearance and the risk of turning the interpreter intoan agent provocateur. The latter, even by police admission, is a grey matterthat needs more examination as well as real-life examples to examine further.Ironically, in a multilingual and multicultural community where the police useinterpreters in their daily work, Australian defense attorneys have shown littleinterest in exploring this area. Indeed the bar association may wish to explorethe various aspects of interpreter participation in live operations particularlywhen a seizure of goods or an arrest is made. It remains an open legalquestion on whether the yell by an interpreter during a house raid to alert apoliceman of the sudden appearance of a person on the premises isinterpreting or police work?SIGNIFICANCE OF LEGAL CULTUREInterpreting in the legal context is a specialized area and whether it is for thepolice and the pre-committal proceedings or after the matter goes to court andto a full trial, the scope of legal interpreting involves linguistic, pragmatic andcultural issues. While a number of scholars examined court interpreting(Gonzalez et al: 1994, Berk-Seligson: 2002) from a linguistic standpoint andfocused on discourse issues such as speech style (Lee:2011), politeness(Krouglov: 1999), police interviews (Nakane: 2009), legal language and
Page 3: 657quality and integrity of the int
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Page 12 and 13: 666(Gibbons: 1994) interpreters’
Page 14 and 15: 668Against this background, interpr
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Page 18 and 19: 672Hale, S. (1999). Interpreters’

Muhammad Gamal - Humanities

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