HispanicBusiness

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Clark County Sheriff's office in Springfield, Ohio, will be the first police department in the state to implement the Phraselator(R) P2, a voice-activated mobile translation device, as part of a broad effort to improve communication with the increasing local Latino population.

Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly originally saw the P2 demonstrated at Effective Strategies for a Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Community, a conference held this summer in Columbus. The conference was part of a statewide initiative by the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS), to prepare law enforcement for the continued growth of non-English speaking communities. "Our communities are becoming increasingly diverse, enriching our cities and our culture. But with this change come challenges and a responsibility of Ohio leaders to ensure law enforcement, courts, corrections, shelters and other criminal justice organizations can properly communicate with these diverse communities. OCJS is proud to join law enforcement and other criminal justice organizations in taking these crucial steps," said Karhlton Moore, executive director of the OCJS.

Kelly secured funding for two Phraselator(R) P2s (Live demo scheduled Thursday. Details below) with grant money provided by the OCJS and two additional P2s with department funds. He plans to use them on patrol, in his detention center, and for routine help calls. "I've taken an oath to serve and protect all in my county. That means everyone. The P2 will help me maintain this oath," says Kelly.

Kelly's efforts also include Spanish training classes for officers and other internal changes aimed at improving multi-cultural communication. John Hall, president of VoxTec International, Inc., says, "Phraselator(R) handheld translation devices can solve police officers' immediate translation needs in the field, but we recognize that our products are one part of a multi-faceted solution. We hope other states will follow Ohio's lead in developing a comprehensive approach to creating better access to public services for Limited English Proficient communities."

CALENDAR LISTING WHAT: Live demonstration of the Phraselator(R) P2 by VoxTec President John Hall with native Spanish speaker and Casa Amiga Program Director Maria Messer. Remarks by Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly and Karhlton Moore, executive director of the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services. WHEN: Thursday, January 19, 2006 2:00-2:30 p.m. EST (Demo & Remarks) 2:30-3:00 p.m. EST (Question & Answer) WHERE: Clark County Sheriff's Office, "Blue Room" 120 North Fountain Avenue Springfield, Ohio

VoxTec International, Inc. in Annapolis, MD, was founded in September 2004 to commercialize and leverage Marine Acoustics Inc. technologies, of which it was formerly a division; including the Phraselator(R) Translation System developed in 2001 for the military with support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and including DynaSpeak(R) speech recognition software under license from SRI International(R).

First Call Analyst: FCMN Contact: VoxTec International, Inc.