Kirk's Police And The Community Lecture
I designed and presented updated versions of the below lecture for Police and the Community classes at Normandale Community College on 10/26/2010 , 3/22/2011, 10/18/2011, 3/26/2012, 3/18/2013, 10/22/2013, 3/17/2014, 10/21/2014, 3/30/2015, 10/27/2015, 4/4/2016, 10/18/2016, 3/14/2017, 10/10/2017, and at Northwestern College on 11/22/2010 as a guest speaker. However, I last updated / revised the below lecture on 3/13/2017.
Hello! I know that this is going to sound corny but if I could, I would be sitting on top of a desk right now in an effort to show you body language to indicate I want this to be a relaxed atmosphere conducive to you feeling comfortable to ask many questions! I know that it’s difficult to ask strangers questions especially to an individual who has unique characteristics such as I do! But folks, nearly over half of the population in the United States today has disabilities! And later today or tomorrow, you could acquire a disability by having a vehicle accident, having a stroke, being a crime victim, and etc. Plus many careers such as in criminal justice, human resources, public relations, health care, and etc. would demand you to interact with all walks of life and develop a rapport with them to effectively assist them or get information from them! Also if you become patrol police officers, your chances of needing to interact with someone who has a disability are 1 out of 10 calls for service especially in a large city. Nevertheless, even if your work won’t involve people with disabilities, it is still very probable that you will need to interact with some such as you may have a spouse or a child with a disability, your children may have friends with disabilities, or your neighborhood more than likely has at least one person with a disability even if it is not visible to you! Thus I highly suggest that you start practicing today with me! Furthermore, this is the perfect opportunity to ask any type of questions to prevent feeling embarrassed or ignorant later! Okay, I will stop lecturing about asking questions; at least for now, LOL! I have had Cerebral Palsy since I was born. I am not mentally challenged and I can't die from it. I have total hearing and vision, but my eyes tend to wander when I read something that's long, thus on rare occasions, my personal care attendants read things to me that are real long because it's just quicker. As you can see, I use an electronic voice computer; it's both audible and readable. It is slow, because I can only type with one thumb. So I have developed a hand language using numbers and letters, which anyone can learn in 10 minutes. But I also know the regular sign language letters. Thus I occasionally talk through my personal care attendants, because sometimes it's quicker. In an effort to give a smattering of facts and my own perspective about my disability, I am going to now give you a brief description of how I acquired Cerebral Palsy, (CP) how others can acquire CP, and then my philosophy mainly about my own CP. Thus hopefully you will become more comfortable with Cerebral Palsy itself. First of all, I lacked oxygen during birth due to the cord being around my neck I believe. And lacking oxygen at birth is the most common way of acquiring CP. However people can acquire it from a severe blow to the head such as falling from a tree or vehicle accidents etc. All Cerebral Palsy is brain damage. And some people with CP have mental retardation, but I have always viewed mental retardation as not being caused by the CP even though I suppose it is in some cases. Anyway Cerebral Palsy is really the luck of the draw. Some cases just one leg or arm is affected. And other cases have much less mobility than I have. I'm Athetoid with some spasticity. The more spasticity that a person has the less mobility they have, because essentially spasticity means tight or rigid muscles, whereas Athetoid essentially means overly loose and hard to control muscles. I could be a lot quote worse or quote better off just depending on the amount of oxygen deprived somewhat I guess. But I think it's more with luck, fate and God, because the human body really isn't scientific in that five billion things could affect it. My mother really believed that if the doctor would have decided to do a C-section, I wouldn't have Cerebral Palsy. But who knows and who cares! I'm here and I am living life to the fullest! My mother would occasionally ask me if I wish they'd have sued the doctor. My feeling is what's done is done! Even though I occasionally wish I could talk the traditional way, I'm thankful for what I have! And I believe that there is a good reason why I'm quote disabled which I'll find out after I die. But if I'm wrong, so be it! And once again, I truly do not let my Cerebral Palsy stop me from doing anything that's important to me anyway! Even though my physical disability is called quite severe, as I just said, I truly make a gallant effort to live life to the fullest, and I really don't allow it to stop me from accomplishing anything that I want to do! For example, I have skydived; I have traveled by myself quite a bit even to Australia, and I live alone. Also I have several degrees in criminal justice, plus I did a six month college credited internship that involved several different law enforcement agencies. In 2000, I was hired as a part-time program assistant at the Center For Criminal Justice And Law Enforcement, (CCJLE), but technically it is now called The Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Education Center (L.E.C.J.E.C). I help train future law enforcement officers by role-playing in scenarios. Also in 2004, I was hired as a part-time overnight security officer at Concordia University, and I worked overnight security there for six years. I really love law enforcement, and I received my Master’s degree in criminal justice in 2006 obviously to get even more education and experience to increase my opportunities in law enforcement! Also I decided to create a training guide for my Master’s capstone thesis on how criminal justice professionals can effectively interact with people who have disabilities as criminals, victims and witnesses. In fact, I actually have implemented a good portion of the guide into the training at L.E.C.J.E.C. Also I have served on the board of the Minnesota Association of Women Police, along with managing their website in the past (mnwomenpolice.org). Furthermore, I have occasionally taught some classes at Concordia University in their Master's criminal justice online program in hope of becoming an adjunct professor in the future. I just wanted to tell you a little about myself, so you would feel comfortable with me, because I am really just a regular guy on the inside! And to give you an indication that I am in fact just a regular guy on the inside; as I mentioned earlier, I ventured to Australia alone many years ago, because I had been chatting to a woman online for about nine months. I went for eleven days, and I had a very nice time! Some people call me crazy or a risk taker by going to Australia, going skydiving, or just by living alone. However, the fact is that typically I only take calculated risks, because I think every thing out well and always have reasons for my actions! Anyway I do take many calculated risks, because again, I never want to allow my disability to prevent me from doing anything that I truly want to do! The main reason why your professor asked me to speak today was to talk about how persons with disabilities should be treated in the community. Well, in theory, knowing how to treat people with disabilities should be simple, if you know what the golden rule is, treat others as you want to be treated! However, in reality, it’s not that simple! Who is really alike? No one! Thus, how do you really know how others want to be treated other than most likely with respect and kindness? You really don’t in all essence! For instance, I have a unique philosophy about how I personally want to be treated. For example, when I used to talk to my peers in public schools, I would begin by saying I don’t want to be treated like anyone else because I am my own person; I am just Kirk Wetzlich. I did that to get their attention, because most people tend to quickly say “treat disabled people like anyone else”. It is indeed correct to treat all people equally as best as possible! However, everyone on earth has different qualities and challenges! Therefore, as criminal justice professionals or just as society members, you need to recognize and appreciate the unique qualities and challenges that individuals have, and be willing to try to accommodate for their desires and challenges! It is understandable why it can often be uncomfortable to be around persons with disabilities, because they don't fit the typical person that is known and accepted automatically by society. However, it is sad because even though persons with disabilities are especially different, essentially everyone has the same needs, desires, and basic functions! Even though it is bad to assume anything in criminal justice / law enforcement due to possible negative or even fatal effects it can have on you; please assume that persons with disabilities have average functions of their five senses, and that their thinking process is average unless you find out different. Thus do not assume that people with disabilities have hearing challenges or mental challenges! Also do not assume that standard or common accommodations will work for people who have similar disabilities, and don’t assume that every individual with a disability needs or wants accommodations. Try to let the individuals tell you what they desire and need! Also, try to make individuals feel comfortable talking to you! For example, if the individual is in a wheelchair, kneel down to talk to them, so you don’t intimidate them. However, as you will find out, perceived victims can really be the suspects. Therefore, you want to always be cautious about kneeling down, because individuals could ram you easily by an electric wheelchair. Also people drive electric wheelchairs in several ways such as with their head, mouth, face, legs, feet, and of course hands. Thus you may not notice if they are going to ram into you until it’s too late, and some electric wheelchairs can go 7 to 10 miles per hour. Personally, I drive my wheelchair with both my head and right leg, and I can go about 7 miles per hour. Thus only kneel or sit down when you feel reasonably safe in your current surroundings, and only when you're quite certain that you're talking to a victim or a witness and not a suspect! Another way to make an individual feel comfortable talking to you, if they use an alternative communication style is to say that you have lots of time to talk so they don’t need to rush. However, be aware that some individuals may get mad at you for saying that, because they might feel that you’re belittling them. Also always look at them even if they are using an interpreter, because they’re still the ones who are talking to you. Furthermore, people with disabilities often get treated as children, because some people indeed just assume if one part of an individual is affected by a disability, then all of their five senses and their intelligence must be affected. Therefore, don’t talk to people with disabilities as children if they are adults with average intellect! In short; try to talk to people with disabilities as how you would others. Good and bad terms. Some bad terms to use for persons with disabilities are the following. Avoid using the word “handicapped”, because it really means crippled. Don’t call a disability a condition, because it usually means “good or bad” like the weather forecast. Additionally, don’t call a disability a disease. While a few disabilities could be classified as being “diseases": such as Muscular Dystrophy and Multiple Sclerosis because they attack the body, people often characterize diseases as being contagious or being bad. Furthermore, try not to say, quote, that person is disabled; rather say, quote, that person has a disability. Some of the current, quote, in terms, referring to someone with a disability are, physically or mentally impaired or impairments. However, some people with disabilities don’t like those terms! They may prefer to be referred to as having physical challenges or being physically challenged with having their specific type of disability such as cerebral palsy. It is also acceptable to refer to someone who has a mental disability as being mentally challenged. Nevertheless, the terms, physically disabled or mentally disabled are essentially acceptable. How to interview someone with a disability: As criminal justice professionals, it is important to remember some extra items when interviewing or arresting someone who has a disability. When interviewing someone with a disability if they are either a witness or a victim of a crime, you need to be more patient than average to effectively obtain information from them. For example, if you discover that they have a communication challenge, you may need to forego using open-ended questions even though you always want to avoid leading them. Nevertheless, always believe that they are capable of answering open-ended questions unless you discover different. If the person who you interview uses an alternative form of communication such as a voice computer or interpreter, you need to document that fact in your report. You also need to document in your report as to what specific disability they have, and if they use any prescribed medication for their disability. Further yet, you need to clarify as to how the person can be contacted by phone in the future for follow up, because every situation is different. For example, some people with disabilities use many alternative ways of communicating over the telephone such as, a state relay service, a voice computer with just a speakerphone or headset, use a TDD, or some people just choose to talk through a personal care attendant or a family member. All of the above items are very important to have in your report because detectives and the prosecutor will want to know how to assist the individuals and how to prepare the jury by enabling the prosecutor to investigate how the specific disability exactly affects the particular individual. By the way, almost all regular Metro Transit busses have wheelchair ramps that come out their regular front side door, so Metro Transit might be another transportation option in some extreme emergency situations. Furthermore, many students have asked me what an appropriate way to ask people about their disability is. My advice is to say to an individual that you understand that their disability is private and personal to them, but you would like to know about their specific disability to ensure that appropriate accommodations will be available if necessary. How to conduct an investigative detention and/or a legal arrest of someone with a disability: When you conduct an investigative detention or a legal arrest of a person who has a disability, you need to be aware of some extra legal and safety issues. For example, when talking to someone who is in a wheelchair, you need to have proper justification to immobilize their wheelchair. You would have proper justification to immobilize their wheelchair if they start to leave and won’t stop post to giving a strong verbal command! You would also be justified to immobilize their wheelchair post to executing a legal arrest. However, if you decide to immobilize their wheelchair, you need to have the mindset that you have essentially removed their legs, so they can not move now without your assistance even in an emergency situation such as a vehicle quickly coming on the scene or another suspect starts firing a weapon! When you conduct a legal Terry Search / weapons search on a person in a wheelchair, you are justified to search them anywhere on their person or anywhere on their wheelchair, because you do not know where they can reach. When you need to take physical control of a person with a disability, obviously you need to show respect to them as you would to others by using the "ask tell make philosophy / method”. (The ask tell make method is a standard technique for police officers to get compliance from people by first asking them to do something, then telling them to do something, and lastly if they don’t comply, the police officer makes them comply). Even though some disabilities can cause people to have excessive physical or mental fragility, do not be afraid to use any type of pain compliance technique on them, because your safety is the most important especially if they are starting to give you justification to begin to climb the use of force continuum. Also feel free to handcuff people in wheelchairs in the front when you believe that you have “the right to”. When you conduct a legal arrest of someone who uses a wheelchair, make an effort to transport them in an accessible vehicle that allows them to remain in their wheelchair in effort to ensure their safety. Therefore, when you need to find transportation for a person who uses an electric wheelchair, be aware that paramedics can not transport them, because most electric wheelchairs weigh several hundred pounds. Thus a couple of options for wheelchair accessible transportation services are Metro Mobility and Airport Town Taxi, but be aware that Metro Mobility usually isn't available without giving several days in advance notice. (Chapter five of my thesis lists the contact information of available wheelchair accessible transportation services). However, if you absolutely need to take the person out of their wheelchair to transport them, you need to secure their wheelchair in a safe place, because some wheelchairs and accessory medical equipment can cost over 30 thousand dollars. Also you need to check if they can still communicate and breathe if they are out of their wheelchair, because some people use communicating and breathing equipment that attach and only function on their wheelchair. Furthermore, when you need to disengage an electric wheelchair so it is electrically not operational and you can manually push it you should look for levers on either the back of the wheelchair or on both lower sides of the wheelchair. According to a local medical supply company, Metro Medical, the current majority of electric wheelchairs have their disengage levers on both sides or on the back but a few have a single lever under the seat. Also according to Metro Medical, most electric wheelchairs can not be manually pushed even when the wheelchair is still electrically turned on even if you use the disengage levers first, but a few wheelchairs can be manually pushed if they are still electrically turned on. (Chapter five of my thesis lists a resource to find out more information about wheelchairs). However, if you can’t find or reach the disengage levers when chasing someone using an electric wheelchair; most criminal justice professionals believe that you would have a right to tip over the wheelchair when the person just shot someone or if you believe the person is likely to commit a crime with a weapon. Nevertheless, you should always have the totality of the circumstances in mind, because if you tip over a wheelchair, you will probably be on the news. However, the personal safety of you and other law-abiding citizens should be always your top priority as a criminal justice professional! By the way, if accessible transportation or accessible jail facilities are not available when you need to arrest someone who uses an electric wheelchair, you may have the option to charge them by a formal complaint for less serious crimes rather than taking them into custody unless they are a high flight risk or if you couldn’t identify them. However, personally, I would always find a way to take them into custody, because I would be a hard ass cop! LOL! Although everyone is obviously different as I said earlier, I want to tell you some things regarding how you could effectively and properly deal with me personally in an arrest or interview / detaining situation. First, like some persons with disabilities, I am not fragile at all, so if the need would arise, it would be safe to use any type of pain compliance technique on me. Also it would be safe to handcuff me in the front when you believe you have the right to! Second, where do you think you can search me on a Terry Search? Anywhere! Because you do not know where I can reach! Also, I want you to just think about when and how you could disable my wheelchair like in a chase. Now, since I typically don’t have a care attendant with me when I work or just when I am out and about obviously partly due to my crazy nocturnal behavior of enjoying working and being out late at night; I want to talk about how you could feel comfortable to effectively interact with me personally if we would ever meet in public. You could always easily interact with me! First never feel bad about telling me to repeat myself, because my computer talks fast and is hard to understand. And whenever you were physically near me, you could always read what I was saying at the top of the screen if you couldn’t understand the voice. Also if I ever wanted to tell you a super long private message without sound, I would flip up the key guard, and switch to a big text screen, so you could read it easier. By the way, since I probably wouldn't already have a message ready to tell you, it would usually take me about five minutes to type ten words. And sometimes it may appear I am getting frustrated or having trouble, because my hands and feet tend to move around a lot when I type. But I am always cool and never get frustrated! Since I hopefully have minimized any fear or anxiety that you may have had about interacting with people who have disabilities, I highly recommend that you take or create an opportunity to befriend someone with a disability, because if you do, I believe that it will have a great impact on both of your lives! For example, I met many good friends in high school and college who gave me a lot of self confidence just by seeing beyond my disability and wanting to hang out with me! And the confidence that they subtly and unknowingly gave me did greatly contribute to my successful life today! Thus please look beyond disabilities and see the person for who they are on the inside with appreciating their unique qualities and differences! Now, I want to kind of switch topics and give you an indication that some professional people still are pretty ignorant about people with disabilities even in a very public serving profession such as the criminal justice system! For example, I took a diversity class for my B.A. and one of our discussion questions reflected on the fact that persons with disabilities often get excluded from diversity discussions about our criminal justice system. I of course needed to give my opinion as to why that is. I said that honestly I don’t know why we, persons with disabilities, are frequently excluded especially when we are at a higher risk of being crime victims and we’re becoming over half of the general population. However, I think it’s because criminal justice professionals typically don’t see very many persons with disabilities committing crimes at a substantial rate. And I think our criminal justice system tends to focus more on criminals rather than victims even though we essentially fight crime for victims and to protect society. On the other hand, we do have some persons with disabilities who commit crimes such as gang members who acquire a disability. However, criminal justice professionals shouldn’t need us, persons with disabilities, to be criminals in order to include us in diversity discussions. Furthermore, some of my classmates gave their opinion on this issue with saying it may be due to the fact that it can be uncomfortable to go up to people with disabilities and ask questions etc. In fact, one of my classmates commented that some police officers are afraid to search people who have disabilities. Another one of my classmates commented that she didn’t think too much about persons with disabilities being criminals, until she arrested a female shoplifter who was in a wheelchair with only having the use of one hand. Those comments are frightening and indicate that criminal justice professionals definitely need more training! Especially due to the fact that there are quite a few persons with disabilities in down town areas who are creeps who hide weapons and drugs under them, or underneath their seat cushions of their wheelchair, and some pee themselves when officers search them. Furthermore, police officers must not be uncomfortable to question persons with disabilities, because they can be real credible witnesses! Also of course persons with disabilities who are victims deserve to be properly treated by police officers and by all other criminal justice professionals! I believe that I am slowly increasing the training and comfort level of criminal justice professionals regarding people with disabilities by working at The Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Education Center. At L.E.C.J.E.C., I teach how to handcuff, interview, Terry and full / custodial search, transport persons with disabilities and how to disable electric wheelchairs. And I play suspects with guns and knives and I have shot many students because they ignored my hands etc. Also of course I play victims and witnesses. I have worked in two types of classes at L.E.C.J.E.C.: a report writing class and a crimes in progress class. In the report writing class I played a witness to a sex for drugs deal that went sour with a knife threat. I only witnessed a few things that matched with the victim's story. My job was to guide the students as to what's important to ask or not for their report so they are solid for court. Meaning that as the students go through the particular scenario, I taught what types of questions would be beneficial so their report would have the crucial information to get a conviction for the case. Plus so the defense attorney couldn't discredit the cop or shoot down the case just because the cop didn't have the crucial information in the report. Also we didn't want students wasting time asking not important questions to the victim or witness especially when the suspect could be still around. But some students didn't want to take enough time with the victim and witness, and they would want to rush to the suspect not having enough probable cause or information to make the arrest. Plus of course part of my job was teaching them how to deal with a witness who has a disability. For example, in this particular scenario, students needed to ask if I could stay on scene to positively identify the suspect once they located him in a bar. When they ask that question, I would say that my bus was coming in three minutes, and imply that it was the last MTC accessible bus of the day. I would then ask how they would transport me and my electric wheelchair. Most students didn’t know how to answer that question. Thus I would tell my students that even though some persons with disabilities think that Metro Mobility sucks because sometimes they're not very reliable; we were just suggesting that police officers mention Metro Mobility to persons with disabilities, so they knew that the responding police officer understands what they need, and that they would get safe and accessible transportation to their destination, because most persons with disabilities are familiar with Metro Mobility. Also I would tell students that Airport Town Taxi has a few wheelchair accessible vans, and they are often more available and reliable than Metro Mobility. Another example of what I taught was that students need to be aware that they need to ask persons with disabilities how they could be contacted later for a follow up interview by the investigator. I would say that in my situation of having a voice computer, it would be best to leave me a voice mail, so that I could call them back when I had a care attendant with me to help to communicate faster. There are many more examples such as those that I could share with you that are important for police officers to know in order to properly interact with people who have disabilities! In the crimes in progress class, I do a lot of different scenarios. For example, in one scenario: I stole a watch from a store and of course I deny it. I run if the students don't handle the call right and as I said, I teach ways to handcuff and search me etc. In another scenario; I'm a drug dealer and I just made a deal and I have a gun and I run away when the students arrive on scene. Students generally assume that the other role-player is the drug dealer. Also they don't know how to stop my electric wheelchair or what force they can use. So I coach them on different things with each type of scenario. In another one: I went to a motel with a prostitute and she stole all of my money without giving me anything so I call the cops. In another one; I vandalize a car because it's in the handicapped spot illegally and the owner assaulted me. Another one is that I witness a car break in and I saw him throw something, which turns out to be a gun. In another one; I call the police because my brother hit me while being my care attendant and living with me. Furthermore, in another scenario: I am on a date and she calls the police, because I threaten her with a gun to perform a sexual act. In all of the scenarios I make it real as much as possible! For example, I swear and hassle the students a lot while we're acting out the scenarios, so they get used to dealing with people who are like the population that cops deal with on the street on most days. In the summer of 2014, the LECJEC skills program was partly redesigned, and they reduced the amount of days in the report writing class. Unfortunately the report writing scenario day that I was a part of for 14 years was eliminated. In my opinion, students need more scenario training, not less! However, I'm still just a small cog in the wheel at LECJEC, LOL! Nevertheless, I still work in the crimes in progress class. As I have already indicated, I like my job at L.E.C.J.E.C., because even though I can't be a street cop, part of my style is continually getting on the street by sharing my knowledge and advice about law enforcement procedures and techniques with many future cops! Most of the teachers at L.E.C.J.E.C. are police officers. Many teachers have commented that they wish that I was there when they went through the academy, because they never received training on criminals who have disabilities which there are a lot of on the street. Finally in closing: I encourage you to browse my own website, because it has all of my Master’s thesis on it. As I earlier indicated, my thesis was about how criminal justice professionals can effectively interact with people who have disabilities as criminals, victims, and witnesses. I wrote all five chapters of my thesis as a training guide for criminal justice professionals regarding legal issues with people who have disabilities, thus I highly recommend that you read all five chapters when you have time! However, if you just have time to read only a couple of chapters, I suggest that you focus on chapters 1 and 4, because in chapter 1, I describe common disabilities, and in chapter 4, I give many tips and instructions to appropriately handle everyday interactions with people who have disabilities. The remainder section of chapter 4 of my thesis has many fictional scenarios that I have designed and/or used to train criminal justice professionals to effectively interact with people who have disabilities. Even though all of the scenarios are fictional, any criminal justice professional could be easily faced with similar situations in real life tomorrow! If you do browse my website, please do not discuss the scenarios with current or future criminal justice students who I might teach in the future, and I don’t just work at L.E.C.J.E.C. Throughout your entire career, I welcome you to contact me with any questions that come up regarding people with disabilities and the American Criminal Justice System! You can always contact me at kcop1123@yahoo.com My website is WWW.KWWCJLETIPSETC.COM By the way, I have posted this lecture on my website in case you would like to review it. I have it titled on my website as, Kirk's Police And The Community Lecture. That is all that I had for now. But do you have any questions? Remember that there are no dumb questions, just dumb answers, LOL!
However, actually I want to tell you a few miscellaneous things while you finish writing down my website information, and then I will answer questions. First, do you think I can walk? I can't walk but you never know! And a good example of that was shown on an episode of Cops: where the police were talking to a guy in a wheelchair on the street about a recent incident. The guy suddenly got mad for some reason and he stood up out of his wheelchair and started shooting at the officers, so the officers needed to fatally wound him! So it proves that you should never assume anything in law enforcement whenever possible! Second, I had an interesting experience on Christmas Eve 2010 regarding the need to transport someone who uses an electric wheelchair in emergency situations not necessarily while under arrest. My van got totaled due to some jag-off failing to stop at a stop sign. My van was obviously towed away. So I asked the responding police officer, who I knew, my famous question about transporting me home in my wheelchair. He said that the tow truck would have a wheelchair lift to get me in the back of the cab. He was right. And the tow truck driver told me that they bought the wheelchair accessible tow truck five years prior and they had used it just three times. I was surprised that they had a wheelchair accessible tow truck, but I was of course damn glad they did especially because I don't know who I could have called and gotten to come on Christmas Eve! Anyway it was Chiefs towing, and I think they are in Bloomington, but they may have other locations, I don't know. But I heard that they no longer have a special accessible tow truck. However, I still thought it was something interesting for you to know and remember. Third, several years ago, I went to a law enforcement conference, and they had a deaf culture awareness seminar. A couple of important and interesting things they mentioned were that on traffic stops, people who are deaf are likely to automatically get out of their vehicles right away, so they can see the officer better to communicate. Also they said that some people who are deaf can get irritated if officers have their children interpret for them. However, now a lot of people who are deaf have video phones in their homes known as VP's. So on domestic calls, they are likely to lead officers to their VP, so a professional interpreter can help. Lastly, one more thing I teach at L.E.C.J.E.C. is that I can still drive my chair if police officers handcuff me and hold my head. Also police officers can't just go up and disable my chair unless I don't comply with giving me some strong verbal commands first, because disabling my wheelchair is like handcuffing me! Ok, now I'm finally done! Does anyone have any questions?
Hello! I know that this is going to sound corny but if I could, I would be sitting on top of a desk right now in an effort to show you body language to indicate I want this to be a relaxed atmosphere conducive to you feeling comfortable to ask many questions! I know that it’s difficult to ask strangers questions especially to an individual who has unique characteristics such as I do! But folks, nearly over half of the population in the United States today has disabilities! And later today or tomorrow, you could acquire a disability by having a vehicle accident, having a stroke, being a crime victim, and etc. Plus many careers such as in criminal justice, human resources, public relations, health care, and etc. would demand you to interact with all walks of life and develop a rapport with them to effectively assist them or get information from them! Also if you become patrol police officers, your chances of needing to interact with someone who has a disability are 1 out of 10 calls for service especially in a large city. Nevertheless, even if your work won’t involve people with disabilities, it is still very probable that you will need to interact with some such as you may have a spouse or a child with a disability, your children may have friends with disabilities, or your neighborhood more than likely has at least one person with a disability even if it is not visible to you! Thus I highly suggest that you start practicing today with me! Furthermore, this is the perfect opportunity to ask any type of questions to prevent feeling embarrassed or ignorant later! Okay, I will stop lecturing about asking questions; at least for now, LOL! I have had Cerebral Palsy since I was born. I am not mentally challenged and I can't die from it. I have total hearing and vision, but my eyes tend to wander when I read something that's long, thus on rare occasions, my personal care attendants read things to me that are real long because it's just quicker. As you can see, I use an electronic voice computer; it's both audible and readable. It is slow, because I can only type with one thumb. So I have developed a hand language using numbers and letters, which anyone can learn in 10 minutes. But I also know the regular sign language letters. Thus I occasionally talk through my personal care attendants, because sometimes it's quicker. In an effort to give a smattering of facts and my own perspective about my disability, I am going to now give you a brief description of how I acquired Cerebral Palsy, (CP) how others can acquire CP, and then my philosophy mainly about my own CP. Thus hopefully you will become more comfortable with Cerebral Palsy itself. First of all, I lacked oxygen during birth due to the cord being around my neck I believe. And lacking oxygen at birth is the most common way of acquiring CP. However people can acquire it from a severe blow to the head such as falling from a tree or vehicle accidents etc. All Cerebral Palsy is brain damage. And some people with CP have mental retardation, but I have always viewed mental retardation as not being caused by the CP even though I suppose it is in some cases. Anyway Cerebral Palsy is really the luck of the draw. Some cases just one leg or arm is affected. And other cases have much less mobility than I have. I'm Athetoid with some spasticity. The more spasticity that a person has the less mobility they have, because essentially spasticity means tight or rigid muscles, whereas Athetoid essentially means overly loose and hard to control muscles. I could be a lot quote worse or quote better off just depending on the amount of oxygen deprived somewhat I guess. But I think it's more with luck, fate and God, because the human body really isn't scientific in that five billion things could affect it. My mother really believed that if the doctor would have decided to do a C-section, I wouldn't have Cerebral Palsy. But who knows and who cares! I'm here and I am living life to the fullest! My mother would occasionally ask me if I wish they'd have sued the doctor. My feeling is what's done is done! Even though I occasionally wish I could talk the traditional way, I'm thankful for what I have! And I believe that there is a good reason why I'm quote disabled which I'll find out after I die. But if I'm wrong, so be it! And once again, I truly do not let my Cerebral Palsy stop me from doing anything that's important to me anyway! Even though my physical disability is called quite severe, as I just said, I truly make a gallant effort to live life to the fullest, and I really don't allow it to stop me from accomplishing anything that I want to do! For example, I have skydived; I have traveled by myself quite a bit even to Australia, and I live alone. Also I have several degrees in criminal justice, plus I did a six month college credited internship that involved several different law enforcement agencies. In 2000, I was hired as a part-time program assistant at the Center For Criminal Justice And Law Enforcement, (CCJLE), but technically it is now called The Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Education Center (L.E.C.J.E.C). I help train future law enforcement officers by role-playing in scenarios. Also in 2004, I was hired as a part-time overnight security officer at Concordia University, and I worked overnight security there for six years. I really love law enforcement, and I received my Master’s degree in criminal justice in 2006 obviously to get even more education and experience to increase my opportunities in law enforcement! Also I decided to create a training guide for my Master’s capstone thesis on how criminal justice professionals can effectively interact with people who have disabilities as criminals, victims and witnesses. In fact, I actually have implemented a good portion of the guide into the training at L.E.C.J.E.C. Also I have served on the board of the Minnesota Association of Women Police, along with managing their website in the past (mnwomenpolice.org). Furthermore, I have occasionally taught some classes at Concordia University in their Master's criminal justice online program in hope of becoming an adjunct professor in the future. I just wanted to tell you a little about myself, so you would feel comfortable with me, because I am really just a regular guy on the inside! And to give you an indication that I am in fact just a regular guy on the inside; as I mentioned earlier, I ventured to Australia alone many years ago, because I had been chatting to a woman online for about nine months. I went for eleven days, and I had a very nice time! Some people call me crazy or a risk taker by going to Australia, going skydiving, or just by living alone. However, the fact is that typically I only take calculated risks, because I think every thing out well and always have reasons for my actions! Anyway I do take many calculated risks, because again, I never want to allow my disability to prevent me from doing anything that I truly want to do! The main reason why your professor asked me to speak today was to talk about how persons with disabilities should be treated in the community. Well, in theory, knowing how to treat people with disabilities should be simple, if you know what the golden rule is, treat others as you want to be treated! However, in reality, it’s not that simple! Who is really alike? No one! Thus, how do you really know how others want to be treated other than most likely with respect and kindness? You really don’t in all essence! For instance, I have a unique philosophy about how I personally want to be treated. For example, when I used to talk to my peers in public schools, I would begin by saying I don’t want to be treated like anyone else because I am my own person; I am just Kirk Wetzlich. I did that to get their attention, because most people tend to quickly say “treat disabled people like anyone else”. It is indeed correct to treat all people equally as best as possible! However, everyone on earth has different qualities and challenges! Therefore, as criminal justice professionals or just as society members, you need to recognize and appreciate the unique qualities and challenges that individuals have, and be willing to try to accommodate for their desires and challenges! It is understandable why it can often be uncomfortable to be around persons with disabilities, because they don't fit the typical person that is known and accepted automatically by society. However, it is sad because even though persons with disabilities are especially different, essentially everyone has the same needs, desires, and basic functions! Even though it is bad to assume anything in criminal justice / law enforcement due to possible negative or even fatal effects it can have on you; please assume that persons with disabilities have average functions of their five senses, and that their thinking process is average unless you find out different. Thus do not assume that people with disabilities have hearing challenges or mental challenges! Also do not assume that standard or common accommodations will work for people who have similar disabilities, and don’t assume that every individual with a disability needs or wants accommodations. Try to let the individuals tell you what they desire and need! Also, try to make individuals feel comfortable talking to you! For example, if the individual is in a wheelchair, kneel down to talk to them, so you don’t intimidate them. However, as you will find out, perceived victims can really be the suspects. Therefore, you want to always be cautious about kneeling down, because individuals could ram you easily by an electric wheelchair. Also people drive electric wheelchairs in several ways such as with their head, mouth, face, legs, feet, and of course hands. Thus you may not notice if they are going to ram into you until it’s too late, and some electric wheelchairs can go 7 to 10 miles per hour. Personally, I drive my wheelchair with both my head and right leg, and I can go about 7 miles per hour. Thus only kneel or sit down when you feel reasonably safe in your current surroundings, and only when you're quite certain that you're talking to a victim or a witness and not a suspect! Another way to make an individual feel comfortable talking to you, if they use an alternative communication style is to say that you have lots of time to talk so they don’t need to rush. However, be aware that some individuals may get mad at you for saying that, because they might feel that you’re belittling them. Also always look at them even if they are using an interpreter, because they’re still the ones who are talking to you. Furthermore, people with disabilities often get treated as children, because some people indeed just assume if one part of an individual is affected by a disability, then all of their five senses and their intelligence must be affected. Therefore, don’t talk to people with disabilities as children if they are adults with average intellect! In short; try to talk to people with disabilities as how you would others. Good and bad terms. Some bad terms to use for persons with disabilities are the following. Avoid using the word “handicapped”, because it really means crippled. Don’t call a disability a condition, because it usually means “good or bad” like the weather forecast. Additionally, don’t call a disability a disease. While a few disabilities could be classified as being “diseases": such as Muscular Dystrophy and Multiple Sclerosis because they attack the body, people often characterize diseases as being contagious or being bad. Furthermore, try not to say, quote, that person is disabled; rather say, quote, that person has a disability. Some of the current, quote, in terms, referring to someone with a disability are, physically or mentally impaired or impairments. However, some people with disabilities don’t like those terms! They may prefer to be referred to as having physical challenges or being physically challenged with having their specific type of disability such as cerebral palsy. It is also acceptable to refer to someone who has a mental disability as being mentally challenged. Nevertheless, the terms, physically disabled or mentally disabled are essentially acceptable. How to interview someone with a disability: As criminal justice professionals, it is important to remember some extra items when interviewing or arresting someone who has a disability. When interviewing someone with a disability if they are either a witness or a victim of a crime, you need to be more patient than average to effectively obtain information from them. For example, if you discover that they have a communication challenge, you may need to forego using open-ended questions even though you always want to avoid leading them. Nevertheless, always believe that they are capable of answering open-ended questions unless you discover different. If the person who you interview uses an alternative form of communication such as a voice computer or interpreter, you need to document that fact in your report. You also need to document in your report as to what specific disability they have, and if they use any prescribed medication for their disability. Further yet, you need to clarify as to how the person can be contacted by phone in the future for follow up, because every situation is different. For example, some people with disabilities use many alternative ways of communicating over the telephone such as, a state relay service, a voice computer with just a speakerphone or headset, use a TDD, or some people just choose to talk through a personal care attendant or a family member. All of the above items are very important to have in your report because detectives and the prosecutor will want to know how to assist the individuals and how to prepare the jury by enabling the prosecutor to investigate how the specific disability exactly affects the particular individual. By the way, almost all regular Metro Transit busses have wheelchair ramps that come out their regular front side door, so Metro Transit might be another transportation option in some extreme emergency situations. Furthermore, many students have asked me what an appropriate way to ask people about their disability is. My advice is to say to an individual that you understand that their disability is private and personal to them, but you would like to know about their specific disability to ensure that appropriate accommodations will be available if necessary. How to conduct an investigative detention and/or a legal arrest of someone with a disability: When you conduct an investigative detention or a legal arrest of a person who has a disability, you need to be aware of some extra legal and safety issues. For example, when talking to someone who is in a wheelchair, you need to have proper justification to immobilize their wheelchair. You would have proper justification to immobilize their wheelchair if they start to leave and won’t stop post to giving a strong verbal command! You would also be justified to immobilize their wheelchair post to executing a legal arrest. However, if you decide to immobilize their wheelchair, you need to have the mindset that you have essentially removed their legs, so they can not move now without your assistance even in an emergency situation such as a vehicle quickly coming on the scene or another suspect starts firing a weapon! When you conduct a legal Terry Search / weapons search on a person in a wheelchair, you are justified to search them anywhere on their person or anywhere on their wheelchair, because you do not know where they can reach. When you need to take physical control of a person with a disability, obviously you need to show respect to them as you would to others by using the "ask tell make philosophy / method”. (The ask tell make method is a standard technique for police officers to get compliance from people by first asking them to do something, then telling them to do something, and lastly if they don’t comply, the police officer makes them comply). Even though some disabilities can cause people to have excessive physical or mental fragility, do not be afraid to use any type of pain compliance technique on them, because your safety is the most important especially if they are starting to give you justification to begin to climb the use of force continuum. Also feel free to handcuff people in wheelchairs in the front when you believe that you have “the right to”. When you conduct a legal arrest of someone who uses a wheelchair, make an effort to transport them in an accessible vehicle that allows them to remain in their wheelchair in effort to ensure their safety. Therefore, when you need to find transportation for a person who uses an electric wheelchair, be aware that paramedics can not transport them, because most electric wheelchairs weigh several hundred pounds. Thus a couple of options for wheelchair accessible transportation services are Metro Mobility and Airport Town Taxi, but be aware that Metro Mobility usually isn't available without giving several days in advance notice. (Chapter five of my thesis lists the contact information of available wheelchair accessible transportation services). However, if you absolutely need to take the person out of their wheelchair to transport them, you need to secure their wheelchair in a safe place, because some wheelchairs and accessory medical equipment can cost over 30 thousand dollars. Also you need to check if they can still communicate and breathe if they are out of their wheelchair, because some people use communicating and breathing equipment that attach and only function on their wheelchair. Furthermore, when you need to disengage an electric wheelchair so it is electrically not operational and you can manually push it you should look for levers on either the back of the wheelchair or on both lower sides of the wheelchair. According to a local medical supply company, Metro Medical, the current majority of electric wheelchairs have their disengage levers on both sides or on the back but a few have a single lever under the seat. Also according to Metro Medical, most electric wheelchairs can not be manually pushed even when the wheelchair is still electrically turned on even if you use the disengage levers first, but a few wheelchairs can be manually pushed if they are still electrically turned on. (Chapter five of my thesis lists a resource to find out more information about wheelchairs). However, if you can’t find or reach the disengage levers when chasing someone using an electric wheelchair; most criminal justice professionals believe that you would have a right to tip over the wheelchair when the person just shot someone or if you believe the person is likely to commit a crime with a weapon. Nevertheless, you should always have the totality of the circumstances in mind, because if you tip over a wheelchair, you will probably be on the news. However, the personal safety of you and other law-abiding citizens should be always your top priority as a criminal justice professional! By the way, if accessible transportation or accessible jail facilities are not available when you need to arrest someone who uses an electric wheelchair, you may have the option to charge them by a formal complaint for less serious crimes rather than taking them into custody unless they are a high flight risk or if you couldn’t identify them. However, personally, I would always find a way to take them into custody, because I would be a hard ass cop! LOL! Although everyone is obviously different as I said earlier, I want to tell you some things regarding how you could effectively and properly deal with me personally in an arrest or interview / detaining situation. First, like some persons with disabilities, I am not fragile at all, so if the need would arise, it would be safe to use any type of pain compliance technique on me. Also it would be safe to handcuff me in the front when you believe you have the right to! Second, where do you think you can search me on a Terry Search? Anywhere! Because you do not know where I can reach! Also, I want you to just think about when and how you could disable my wheelchair like in a chase. Now, since I typically don’t have a care attendant with me when I work or just when I am out and about obviously partly due to my crazy nocturnal behavior of enjoying working and being out late at night; I want to talk about how you could feel comfortable to effectively interact with me personally if we would ever meet in public. You could always easily interact with me! First never feel bad about telling me to repeat myself, because my computer talks fast and is hard to understand. And whenever you were physically near me, you could always read what I was saying at the top of the screen if you couldn’t understand the voice. Also if I ever wanted to tell you a super long private message without sound, I would flip up the key guard, and switch to a big text screen, so you could read it easier. By the way, since I probably wouldn't already have a message ready to tell you, it would usually take me about five minutes to type ten words. And sometimes it may appear I am getting frustrated or having trouble, because my hands and feet tend to move around a lot when I type. But I am always cool and never get frustrated! Since I hopefully have minimized any fear or anxiety that you may have had about interacting with people who have disabilities, I highly recommend that you take or create an opportunity to befriend someone with a disability, because if you do, I believe that it will have a great impact on both of your lives! For example, I met many good friends in high school and college who gave me a lot of self confidence just by seeing beyond my disability and wanting to hang out with me! And the confidence that they subtly and unknowingly gave me did greatly contribute to my successful life today! Thus please look beyond disabilities and see the person for who they are on the inside with appreciating their unique qualities and differences! Now, I want to kind of switch topics and give you an indication that some professional people still are pretty ignorant about people with disabilities even in a very public serving profession such as the criminal justice system! For example, I took a diversity class for my B.A. and one of our discussion questions reflected on the fact that persons with disabilities often get excluded from diversity discussions about our criminal justice system. I of course needed to give my opinion as to why that is. I said that honestly I don’t know why we, persons with disabilities, are frequently excluded especially when we are at a higher risk of being crime victims and we’re becoming over half of the general population. However, I think it’s because criminal justice professionals typically don’t see very many persons with disabilities committing crimes at a substantial rate. And I think our criminal justice system tends to focus more on criminals rather than victims even though we essentially fight crime for victims and to protect society. On the other hand, we do have some persons with disabilities who commit crimes such as gang members who acquire a disability. However, criminal justice professionals shouldn’t need us, persons with disabilities, to be criminals in order to include us in diversity discussions. Furthermore, some of my classmates gave their opinion on this issue with saying it may be due to the fact that it can be uncomfortable to go up to people with disabilities and ask questions etc. In fact, one of my classmates commented that some police officers are afraid to search people who have disabilities. Another one of my classmates commented that she didn’t think too much about persons with disabilities being criminals, until she arrested a female shoplifter who was in a wheelchair with only having the use of one hand. Those comments are frightening and indicate that criminal justice professionals definitely need more training! Especially due to the fact that there are quite a few persons with disabilities in down town areas who are creeps who hide weapons and drugs under them, or underneath their seat cushions of their wheelchair, and some pee themselves when officers search them. Furthermore, police officers must not be uncomfortable to question persons with disabilities, because they can be real credible witnesses! Also of course persons with disabilities who are victims deserve to be properly treated by police officers and by all other criminal justice professionals! I believe that I am slowly increasing the training and comfort level of criminal justice professionals regarding people with disabilities by working at The Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Education Center. At L.E.C.J.E.C., I teach how to handcuff, interview, Terry and full / custodial search, transport persons with disabilities and how to disable electric wheelchairs. And I play suspects with guns and knives and I have shot many students because they ignored my hands etc. Also of course I play victims and witnesses. I have worked in two types of classes at L.E.C.J.E.C.: a report writing class and a crimes in progress class. In the report writing class I played a witness to a sex for drugs deal that went sour with a knife threat. I only witnessed a few things that matched with the victim's story. My job was to guide the students as to what's important to ask or not for their report so they are solid for court. Meaning that as the students go through the particular scenario, I taught what types of questions would be beneficial so their report would have the crucial information to get a conviction for the case. Plus so the defense attorney couldn't discredit the cop or shoot down the case just because the cop didn't have the crucial information in the report. Also we didn't want students wasting time asking not important questions to the victim or witness especially when the suspect could be still around. But some students didn't want to take enough time with the victim and witness, and they would want to rush to the suspect not having enough probable cause or information to make the arrest. Plus of course part of my job was teaching them how to deal with a witness who has a disability. For example, in this particular scenario, students needed to ask if I could stay on scene to positively identify the suspect once they located him in a bar. When they ask that question, I would say that my bus was coming in three minutes, and imply that it was the last MTC accessible bus of the day. I would then ask how they would transport me and my electric wheelchair. Most students didn’t know how to answer that question. Thus I would tell my students that even though some persons with disabilities think that Metro Mobility sucks because sometimes they're not very reliable; we were just suggesting that police officers mention Metro Mobility to persons with disabilities, so they knew that the responding police officer understands what they need, and that they would get safe and accessible transportation to their destination, because most persons with disabilities are familiar with Metro Mobility. Also I would tell students that Airport Town Taxi has a few wheelchair accessible vans, and they are often more available and reliable than Metro Mobility. Another example of what I taught was that students need to be aware that they need to ask persons with disabilities how they could be contacted later for a follow up interview by the investigator. I would say that in my situation of having a voice computer, it would be best to leave me a voice mail, so that I could call them back when I had a care attendant with me to help to communicate faster. There are many more examples such as those that I could share with you that are important for police officers to know in order to properly interact with people who have disabilities! In the crimes in progress class, I do a lot of different scenarios. For example, in one scenario: I stole a watch from a store and of course I deny it. I run if the students don't handle the call right and as I said, I teach ways to handcuff and search me etc. In another scenario; I'm a drug dealer and I just made a deal and I have a gun and I run away when the students arrive on scene. Students generally assume that the other role-player is the drug dealer. Also they don't know how to stop my electric wheelchair or what force they can use. So I coach them on different things with each type of scenario. In another one: I went to a motel with a prostitute and she stole all of my money without giving me anything so I call the cops. In another one; I vandalize a car because it's in the handicapped spot illegally and the owner assaulted me. Another one is that I witness a car break in and I saw him throw something, which turns out to be a gun. In another one; I call the police because my brother hit me while being my care attendant and living with me. Furthermore, in another scenario: I am on a date and she calls the police, because I threaten her with a gun to perform a sexual act. In all of the scenarios I make it real as much as possible! For example, I swear and hassle the students a lot while we're acting out the scenarios, so they get used to dealing with people who are like the population that cops deal with on the street on most days. In the summer of 2014, the LECJEC skills program was partly redesigned, and they reduced the amount of days in the report writing class. Unfortunately the report writing scenario day that I was a part of for 14 years was eliminated. In my opinion, students need more scenario training, not less! However, I'm still just a small cog in the wheel at LECJEC, LOL! Nevertheless, I still work in the crimes in progress class. As I have already indicated, I like my job at L.E.C.J.E.C., because even though I can't be a street cop, part of my style is continually getting on the street by sharing my knowledge and advice about law enforcement procedures and techniques with many future cops! Most of the teachers at L.E.C.J.E.C. are police officers. Many teachers have commented that they wish that I was there when they went through the academy, because they never received training on criminals who have disabilities which there are a lot of on the street. Finally in closing: I encourage you to browse my own website, because it has all of my Master’s thesis on it. As I earlier indicated, my thesis was about how criminal justice professionals can effectively interact with people who have disabilities as criminals, victims, and witnesses. I wrote all five chapters of my thesis as a training guide for criminal justice professionals regarding legal issues with people who have disabilities, thus I highly recommend that you read all five chapters when you have time! However, if you just have time to read only a couple of chapters, I suggest that you focus on chapters 1 and 4, because in chapter 1, I describe common disabilities, and in chapter 4, I give many tips and instructions to appropriately handle everyday interactions with people who have disabilities. The remainder section of chapter 4 of my thesis has many fictional scenarios that I have designed and/or used to train criminal justice professionals to effectively interact with people who have disabilities. Even though all of the scenarios are fictional, any criminal justice professional could be easily faced with similar situations in real life tomorrow! If you do browse my website, please do not discuss the scenarios with current or future criminal justice students who I might teach in the future, and I don’t just work at L.E.C.J.E.C. Throughout your entire career, I welcome you to contact me with any questions that come up regarding people with disabilities and the American Criminal Justice System! You can always contact me at kcop1123@yahoo.com My website is WWW.KWWCJLETIPSETC.COM By the way, I have posted this lecture on my website in case you would like to review it. I have it titled on my website as, Kirk's Police And The Community Lecture. That is all that I had for now. But do you have any questions? Remember that there are no dumb questions, just dumb answers, LOL!
However, actually I want to tell you a few miscellaneous things while you finish writing down my website information, and then I will answer questions. First, do you think I can walk? I can't walk but you never know! And a good example of that was shown on an episode of Cops: where the police were talking to a guy in a wheelchair on the street about a recent incident. The guy suddenly got mad for some reason and he stood up out of his wheelchair and started shooting at the officers, so the officers needed to fatally wound him! So it proves that you should never assume anything in law enforcement whenever possible! Second, I had an interesting experience on Christmas Eve 2010 regarding the need to transport someone who uses an electric wheelchair in emergency situations not necessarily while under arrest. My van got totaled due to some jag-off failing to stop at a stop sign. My van was obviously towed away. So I asked the responding police officer, who I knew, my famous question about transporting me home in my wheelchair. He said that the tow truck would have a wheelchair lift to get me in the back of the cab. He was right. And the tow truck driver told me that they bought the wheelchair accessible tow truck five years prior and they had used it just three times. I was surprised that they had a wheelchair accessible tow truck, but I was of course damn glad they did especially because I don't know who I could have called and gotten to come on Christmas Eve! Anyway it was Chiefs towing, and I think they are in Bloomington, but they may have other locations, I don't know. But I heard that they no longer have a special accessible tow truck. However, I still thought it was something interesting for you to know and remember. Third, several years ago, I went to a law enforcement conference, and they had a deaf culture awareness seminar. A couple of important and interesting things they mentioned were that on traffic stops, people who are deaf are likely to automatically get out of their vehicles right away, so they can see the officer better to communicate. Also they said that some people who are deaf can get irritated if officers have their children interpret for them. However, now a lot of people who are deaf have video phones in their homes known as VP's. So on domestic calls, they are likely to lead officers to their VP, so a professional interpreter can help. Lastly, one more thing I teach at L.E.C.J.E.C. is that I can still drive my chair if police officers handcuff me and hold my head. Also police officers can't just go up and disable my chair unless I don't comply with giving me some strong verbal commands first, because disabling my wheelchair is like handcuffing me! Ok, now I'm finally done! Does anyone have any questions?