The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has launched a new video relay service to enable deaf individuals to communicate with the police more easily.

The service, which went live today, Tuesday 18 March, will provide access to interpreters for both Irish Sign Language (ISL) and British Sign Language (BSL).

The initiative, hosted by SignVideo, allows deaf members of the public to connect to an interpreter at the touch of a button. This can be done by clicking a call button on the PSNI website at www.psni.police.uk/contact-us/deaf-community or via the PSNI logo on the SignVideo app. The interpreter will then relay the call to the PSNI's Contact Management Centre, where it will be handled like any other call.

The launch of the service coincides with National Sign Language Week, which runs from March 17th to 23rd.

Chief Inspector Michelle Adams, from the PSNI's Strategic Partnerships and Prevention Branch, emphasised the importance of accessibility for the entire community. "As a police service for the whole community we need to be fully accessible for everyone in that community and that includes those who are deaf," she said. She added that the new service would empower deaf individuals to report incidents directly, allowing the police to gather the most meaningful information and respond appropriately. "This service means that people from the deaf community will now be empowered to report anything to us themselves, allowing us to take the most meaningful information we can from them and start investigating or supporting in the most appropriate way," Chief Inspector Adams stated.

The PSNI also sought to reassure the deaf community about confidentiality. Chief Inspector Adams explained that SignVideo interpreters are qualified to a high standard and bound by confidentiality agreements. "SignVideo interpreters are NRCPD qualified which takes seven years to achieve. They also have a minimum of three years community practitioning experience," she said. "All interpreters are bound to confidentiality and will not answer any questions or discuss anything regarding a conversation they have been interpreting with any other person."

Majella McAteer, British Deaf Association NI Manager, welcomed the new service as a significant step forward for equality. "The BDA NI is honoured to attend the launch of the video relay service for Deaf people and is excited about this new service, which will provide better access for Deaf Sign Language users," she said.

She highlighted the increased independence the service would offer. "With the video relay service, Deaf individuals can now make non-emergency calls to the Police Service independently, without relying on family members, friends, or others for communication support. This increased independence and confidence will be greatly welcomed by the sign language community," Ms McAteer added.

Further information about the video relay service can be found on the Police Service website at www.psni.police.uk.