Scotland Yard is launching a drive to recruit more officers who speak a second language.
The Metropolitan Police hopes to bolster the number officers able to speak and understand 14 languages which are widely used by communities across London.
Yoruba (Nigeria), Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Italian, German, Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Sinhala (Sri Lanka) and Bengali will be the focus of the month-long pilot campaign which starts today.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe said: "We know that almost 300 languages are spoken in the capital. We need to recruit and deploy officers with second languages in areas where those languages are spoken.
"I believe it will help boost confidence, help to solve crime more effectively and support victims and witnesses."