Berrien County Police hope to break language barrier

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Updated: 1:25 AM May 31, 2008 Berrien County Police hope to break language barrier An electronic translator will be used by officers to help communicate with people who don't speak English. Posted: 7:21 PM May 30, 2008 Reporter: Stephanie Stang Email Address: stephanie.stang@wndu.com

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There's a new assistant joining the Berrien County Police Department and they hope it will break language barriers.

The department has bought a hand-held device called Speech Guard.

It is a multilingual translator that costs about a thousand dollars.

The money to buy it was donated by Wal-Mart.

The Berrien County Sheriff's Department has one now and Berrien Springs Police and Lakeland Hospital will also use the devices.

After two years of research the department decided it would really help them communicate with people in the field who don't speak English.

"It is a tool that we're gonna have that the people who have not come out because of a language barrier--will come out now and address any problem that they're having," says Detective Juan Mata from the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.

The device is meant for simple conversation but it speaks up to nine languages.

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