The amount West Yorkshire police has spent on interpreters more than doubled in the last four years, the Telegraph & Argus can reveal.

The force uses interpreters for communication with people from ethnic communities. Their role can include dealing with victims of crime, suspects and offering advice or appealing for information.

The T&A used the Freedom of Information Act to access records which revealed a huge increase in their use throughout the district since 2002.

Between April 2002 and March 2003, the force spent £484,982 on interpreters' fees. The following year, that rose to £677,026, jumping to £822,487 between April 2004 and March 2005.

From April 2005 to March 2006 the fees throughout the county were £1,080,627 out of the force's £382.2m budget.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the rise was due to the force having to respond to "challenging circumstances regionally and nationally".

But prominent figures who work with the police in the Bradford district expressed surprise.

Bradford's first Asian police officer, Rashid Awan, who was instrumental in setting up the West Yorkshire ethnic minority liaison police committee in 1998, said he would have expected spending on interpreters to be falling.

Mr Awan, 69, former chairman of the Connecting Communities group which was funded by the Home Office, said: "I am concerned. This money would have been well spent in other areas such as community relations. I think this needs to be scrutinised as £1m is a lot of money and it is taxpayers' money.

"I would have thought the amount being spent might have started to fall as a lot of immigrant communities are populated by second and third generations who speak perfect English.

"On the other hand it is important to create harmonious community relations and the police are doing a wonderful job. There have also been new communities arriving in recent years."

Bradford magistrate Bary Malik had noticed a significant rise in the number of interpreters used in court. Since arriving in the city in 1975, Dr Malik, also a member of the ethnic minority liaison committee, has worked to help disadvantaged groups integrate.

He said: "I am shocked that we are spending so much on interpreters. But the number of people we are now seeing in court who cannot speak English is definitely going up.

"We are seeing nationalities in court now including Czechs, Slovaks, Polish, Ukrainians and Kurds as well as south Asians. But it is imperative we provide a fair justice system for everyone."

A Bradford Council spokesman said the 2001 census identified regular use of Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Benghali, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Italian, Chinese and Greek in the district. But he said Kurdish, Albanian and French should now be added to the list.

West Yorkshire Police Federation chairman Tom McGhie said: "When people do not speak English very well we have a duty to ensure they are treated fairly and understand what is going on and can communicate. We have seen an increase in immigration across the country."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "West Yorkshire is a diverse county and it is vital we invest in ensuring we can communicate with all residents, including those from different nationalities and those with disabilities.

"We are legally obliged to provide a range of services for the blind, hearing-impaired and minority ethnic groups.

"However, in recent years engagement with minority ethnic groups has become even more important, encouraging unity and providing reassurance as a result of challenging circumstances both regionally and nationally.

"The increased use of interpreters obviously enables to us to communicate more effectively with residents throughout West Yorkshire."

The spokesman said some police were now voluntarily learning languages in their own time to help with their work.

Keighley Labour MP Ann Cryer said it was important recent immigrants learned English as quickly as possible.

She said: "The Government has put a lot of time and money into allowing people to learn English as a second language. It is now getting to the point where we are going to have to say if you have indefinite leave to remain in this country you are going to have to learn English, as they do in Germany and Holland."

Shipley Conservative MP Philip Davies said: "This is a perfect indication of how immigration has got out of control in this country and the problem it causes, not just in terms of communities being at ease with themselves but also the effect on public services."

e-mail: dan.webber@bradford.newsquest.co.uk