Los Angeles police are communicating with foreign-language residents with a new high-tech toy: The Phraselator, a Star-Trek-like device that speaks in tongues.
The one-way communication device was conceived by a Lee Morin, a U.S. Navy doctor in the Iraq, to communicate with patients and it allows police to use speakers to talk to crowds, asking them simple questions and give directions, the Los Angeles Times said.
"In Los Angeles, we run into so many languages and the ability to ask someone you are helping, 'Are you injured?' is so important," Los Angeles police Capt. Dennis Kato told the Times.
Los Angeles has four of the $2,500 devices, which resemble clunky, 1980s-era cellphones, and can broadcast 35 programmed phrases in multiple languages.
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