This study explores interaction in two authentic interpreter-mediated police interviews with suspects. The
analysis focuses on the interpreting regime used: stand-by interpreting. The interactional regime in the analysed interviews
featured exolingual communication in English between a Spanish-speaking suspect with emerging competencies in English and
English-speaking interviewers, with intermittent interpreter participation. Drawing on Conversation Analysis and interactional
sociolinguistics, this study analyses how the interpreting regime was negotiated, how it was constructed over the course of the
interviews, and the observable function of interpreting episodes. The analysis revealed a markedly collaborative nature of
stand-by interpreting, differences in the distribution of interactional power over interpreting episodes among the three
participants depending on their activity role and the interview phase, and the multimodal nature of turn-management. Interpreting
was used selectively as a resource to either repair or prevent miscommunication, aligning with the way the interpreting regime was
set up. Rather than advocating for or against the stand-by mode of interpreting, this paper describes its features in the police
interview and highlights both its potential and its risks for communication in interpreter-mediated police interviews as a
discourse genre.
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