No deaf ear

[Miss-Delectable]

The Frederick News-Post Online - Frederick County Maryland Daily Newspaper

The Frederick Police Department continues to demonstrate that community policing is truly central to its philosophy of law enforcement and crime prevention.

Contrary to the adversarial relationship that exists between some police forces and the communities they serve, the Frederick Police Department has embraced community policing as one of its core principles.

Community policing stresses a strong relationship between the police agency and the community it serves. It strives to build trust and confidence in the community that, in turn, leads to a symbiotic relationship that enhances both its residents' lives and the effectiveness of the police agency.

One precept of community policing is that it embrace all constituents, including the deaf and non-speakers of English. To that end, the FPD created a unique partnership with Robert Harris, a Maryland School for the Deaf student, by accepting Harris as an intern. Harris's perspective was invaluable in helping train the FPD and other county first responders in how to effectively deal with deaf and non-English-speaking individuals they encounter.

Harris worked closely with the FPD's Training Division and Frederick County Fire/Rescue to develop a communication tool for first responders who encounter non-English-speaking individuals. The result was a visual language tool called the Emergency Services Visual Language Translator, which includes point-to graphics and multiple languages interpretations.

Harris also participated in scenario-based training in which he portrayed an irate, out-of-control deaf student who required restraint. Among other things, this exercise illustrated the frustration that can arise when a deaf person's hands are restrained, and how that frustration can affect both that person and police officers dealing with him.

Harris and several others have also developed a formal two-hour communication awareness presentation that the FPD's training division anticipates presenting to the entire department this summer.

Frederick is a diverse place that includes sizable deaf/hearing-impaired and non-English-speaking communities. It is incumbent on local police agencies to develop the necessary skills to deal effectively and professionally with these unique populations. The department's association with Harris, and the positive results it has generated, should prove helpful in meeting that objective.

We again salute the Frederick Police Department, under the enlightened leadership of Chief Kim Dine, for its goal to serve all those within the Frederick community. We are convinced that Frederick is a more livable place because of their efforts.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

School for the Deaf student completes a unique internship

School for the Deaf student completes a unique internship

Bobby Harris, 17, will have something to leave behind for the Maryland School for the Deaf and Frederick County.

When he is done putting the finishing touches on his internship project, he will provide more than 2,000 Frederick County first responders with a tool designed to improve their communication with the deaf community.

Bobby completed the tool as part of his unique, six-week internship with Frederick Police Department, Frederick County Fire and Rescue and Frederick County Emergency Preparedness.

The tool is a visual handbook, designed to help first responders communicate with anyone who is deaf or doesn’t speak English. Containing pictures and symbols, the handbook could answer all questions that a firefighter or a policeman can have for someone at the scene of an accident.

Pointing to a selection of symbols, the victim could describe features of an attacker by selecting pictures of the corresponding eye and hair color and height. Alternatively, they could point to the brand of a runaway car. In case of an allergy, a victim could indicate poison and then select among pictures of bees, peanuts or fruit.

While using a similar tool is not new for Frederick County first responders, in the past they have always used one developed for state-wide use. Bobby’s tool will be the first one especially developed to fit the needs of first responders in Frederick County.

‘‘We want to be able to replicate it and get it to first responders around the county,” said Frederick Police Chief Kim. C. Dine. ‘‘We’ve had many interns over the years. But we were very proud to have Bobby.”

Bobby is the first Maryland School for the Deaf student to participate in an internship with Frederick police. The idea for his internship was born in March, when Bobby and a group of Maryland School for the Deaf presenters addressed Frederick County first responders in effort to spread awareness of the deaf community and culture.

Taking in consideration Bobby’s interest in law enforcement and his graphic design skills, Frederick police decided to take the effort further and train Bobby in a 10-week project-based internship. In the process, Bobby worked with policemen and firefighters, participated in drills, shot police guns and rode along with police officers.

Bobby also helped train first responders to develop skills for communicating with members of the deaf community. In one of the drills he completed, for instance, Bobby played a deaf person who had a broken leg and would not communicate with the emergency team sent to the scene.

‘‘They didn’t know what I was doing,” Bobby said through an American Sign Language translator. ‘‘It took them a while to realize I was deaf. Then they called an interpreter.”

Throughout his internship, Bobby completed similar drills with firefighters, pretending to be a deaf fire witness. In another training exercise, with new police officers, he tested their ability to communicate with the deaf, by pretending to be deaf suspect.

The experience was invaluable for first responders, because it helped them refine their approach when dealing with someone from the deaf community. Firefighters for example, didn’t realize that Bobby couldn’t read their lips, when they had their helmets on. Some police officers didn’t think that with their hands handcuffed deaf suspects are unable to talk.

‘‘There were so many things that we wanted to share with him,” said Kathy Forest, with the Frederick County Emergency Preparedness. ‘‘He was a delight to work with.”

Sgt. Clark Pennington, who supervised Bobby’s internship with the Frederick Police, said the police are hoping to continue the internship with another Maryland School for the Deaf student next school year. ‘‘I wish we had more time with Bobby,” Pennington said. ‘‘I wanted to expose him to more police work.”

Bobby said he thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially because his long-term interest in law enforcement. After graduating from the Maryland School for the Deaf this year, he plans to start classes at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he wants to study criminal justice and computer graphics.

In the few months before that, Bobby will be working on completing his internship project. ‘‘I always like to be doing things, it’s just my personality,” Bobby said. ‘‘Plus this is a way to be working with the police this summer.”