Most Recent http://www.alstrasoft.com FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.rexvlog.net/view_video.php?viewkey=ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf Cool video that Jaclyn, Dan and myself made for Jaclyn's school project. We thought it was so funny and had to share it with all deaf, hard of hearing and hearing viewers. After all it was an experiment for Jaclyn school project and we thought would be cool to share with you all. http://www.rexvlog.net/view_video.php?viewkey=923820dcc509a6f75849 On January 14th, 2009 there were several police cars parked around the Center for Disability Rights building. And there was no protest going on! Even better no one got arrested. But the police were here for a good cause. They came to get together and discuss how to improve the communication between the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community and each police department in Monroe County, New York. Participating police departments included East Rochester, Greece, Brighton, Henrietta, Monroe County Sheriff and a few others.

For the past year, the Regional Center for Independent Living’s (RCIL) had a Deaf Police general committee that has been focusing on improving the relationship between the Rochester Police Department (RPD) on improving the relationship between police officers and deaf and hard of hearing community. Both of them wanted to expand the difference services for different police departments in Monroe County area. That was the reason for the police gathering.

I started off the meeting with a question to each officer, asking them how their police department currently handles vehicle traffic violations. Each officer replied how they do it differently. But one thing they said that was similar that they will walk to the car and if needed they will write or using a text phone to communicate back and forth. RPD said that their standard process is to get the person’s drivers license first and check if this person has a warrant or violations. Then they go back to the car and communicate with the person giving the person the license and ticket back.

I know that many of us might be upset that they have to give their license. But, you know that if you won’t give your license and ID. Rochester police department will arrest or ticket. I suggest that you remain calm and try to cooperate with the officer and give them your license. It’s really important for you to think about when you are pulled over. And, please keep your hands on the steering wheel till the officer arrives. This will help the police officer see the hands and feel secured. If the police officer sees the person moves his/her hand around a lot or quickly, they might get nervous as if the person is reaching for a weapon like a gun or knife. So stay calm and be patient with hand on steering wheel and things will work out. If need to reach for something, please be calm and point where you are aiming. Also reach out slowly to get your license.

The other thing I would like to warn you all, the police feel that they do not need to communicate with anyone after verify a form of identification because they claim that everyone should know that if they passed the driver’s test given by DMV. The DMV book and test will say that they should give their drivers license when pulled over. This is why police do not feel that they need to discuss with the driver first. This policy was created to be sure that the RPD officer and the people feel safe.

After this discussion, I told the police officers that as the Deaf Systems Advocate, I get different complaints from people. With police departments having different processes and procedures to file complains. This makes it so confusing for many deaf and hard of hearing individuals in various parts of Monroe County to file complains.

One of the officers from Greece said that they never had any problems in communication with their deaf and hard of hearing residents in Greece.. Diane Amero is on our committee and she is from Greece and filed a complaint in the past. She explained what she did to file the complaint and they agreed that she did it correctly. It’s obvious that awareness of problems with the deaf and hard of hearing community among many police departments is not what it should be.

I told the officers that I get a lot of complaints, but the people who complain to me usually do not get the name or badge number of the officer involved. They look at the uniform color that is black. Then I asked all police officers in the room who did not have a black uniform. All of them look around at each other and saw that they all had a black uniform. They all agreed that it is difficult to pursue the complaint process.

We also asked each department if they had officers who could use sign language, a liaison that focuses on deaf and hard of hearing issues, or specific training. Each department except RPD said that they did not have any specific liaison or training focused on deaf and hard of hearing issues. Some departments had no officers that sign while others had some officers who know a few signs.

We asked if they would like to get together again to focus on universal training to help establish a standard method to improve communication between the police and deaf citizens. They all liked the idea but had to go back to their departments and allow their chiefs to decide. We hope that the chiefs will be able to attend the next meeting.

One more thing that’s cool: the Rochester Deaf Police Subcommittee is currently working on a Deaf Vehicle Visor Sign to alert police officers that the driver is deaf. The Visor Sign will have instruction on how the police should work with the deaf and the deaf work with the police. We are also working on a survey, and hopefully soon we will send that out to the general community. I hope when send out, I hope to get them back from you.

Please keep an eye out for our future survey and visor sign. And more to come… so stay tuned I have more news to send out soon…