The Deaf almost never have any good experiences with police. It’s not because we’re criminals or because we give them hard time. It’s simply because we can’t hear and they don’t understand that.
I mentioned a while back about the “second set of knowledge” that comes from life experiences; there are too many stories of deaf people being treated with excessive force, being beaten up, being shot at, being arrested for the wrong reason and then the situation escalating because the deaf person was angry and confused and the police refused to cooperate.
Deaf people have been thrown in jail for days without any interpreter or phone calls or accommodation, not knowing why they’re in there. Many times, when problems arise, the cops think that the Deaf are faking it and step up their “toughness” with disastrous results. And I know this from personal experience: When a deaf person even goes as far as to show an extremely exasperated facial expression or hand gesture, it’s good enough to get you arrested.
Worst of all, when deaf people get arrested, cops frequently handcuff the hands BEHIND THE BACK.
When you do that, it pisses us off very very much. So imagine an upset, distressed, agitated Deaf person being roughly treated and now their voice is being taken away with the handcuffs behind the back.
Without their hands, we can NOT COMMUNICATE and hell often breaks loose. And when they DO call in interpreters, I can guarantee you that calling in interpreters with even DC’s Metropolitan Police Department will take HOURS. Even worse beyond DC’s borders, sometimes there are no interpreters at all in rural areas. Sometimes they call in someone who can “sign” but are barely marginally qualified.
And you think we the Deaf people are stupid? We’re gonna sit there at the police station and say “Hmm, that’s ok, you don’t understand us the deafies… This is all just a big misunderstanding”?
No. The reality is that, we know our legal rights pretty well. We’re not afraid to speak up, to be blunt to the police, to raise our voices and demand our rights being protected. This is often met with more intense antagonism from the police’s side. When it is all over, we are disheartened and frustrated when the police "gets away with it," which is nearly always the case.
AAPD Intern Blog: Police Brutality: The FACTS by Leah