Kern County Health Impact Assessment: Language Access and Law Enforcement

In Kern County, Indigenous Mexican residents report that if they have access to an interpreter at all during interactions with law enforcement, it is between English and Spanish and not the Indigenous languages they speak fluently. This leaves both the resident and law enforcement struggling to get all the information they need.

Language access is often minimized as a favor or service to the person who does not speak a dominant language, even though it is a legal mandate. Our survey results suggest that law enforcement officers are missing critical opportunities to gather facts and conduct investigations due to language barriers.