Crossing the Barrier Between the Deaf, Mute and Law Enforcement  

The Belize Police Department is taking steps towards inclusivity and accessibility by training officers in sign language. For one week, thirty officers from across Belize city will engage in valuable lessons so they can better communicate with deaf or hard of hearing victims and community members. Today, News Five’s Britney Gordon stopped by the Queen Street Police Station to see how the officers were doing on day two of the classes. Here’s the story.

 

Rasheed Coleman, Police Ser, Family Violence Unit

“It’s R-A-S-H-E-E-D. Rasheed.”

 

 

 

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Upon meeting someone, a name is usually the first thing you learn about them. Sharing your name can be the beginning of a friendship, a relationship and the beginning of trust. But for many people that are deaf or mute, they are unable to take that first step to establishing that connection with police officers because they are expressing it in a language the officers does not speak. That disconnect is changing now that members of the Belize Police Department are learning how to speak sign language. A.C.P. Howell Gillett, National Commander of the the Community Policing Unit spoke with us about the importance of making this effort.

 

A.C.P. Howell Gillett, Nat’l Commander, Community Policing Unit

“We have the community policing officers, and we also have the officers from the family unit. Those are the ones who take complaints of a sexual nature.  from victims. So it’s important for them to be able to speak with these people who are have hearing impairment, who have who are mute. So if we are to truly be policing the entire population, we have to include those with special needs.”

 

 

 

Whether someone is hurt or in fear is vital information for police officers to know, but the communication barrier between hearing officers and deaf or mute victims is difficult to overcome without an interpreter. This is especially challenging with small children who cannot write yet. With assistance from the Stella Maris School, officers are working to overcome this barrier. Sign instructor, Erlett Thomas says that this is a challenge that has always existed for the community.

 

 

 

Erlett Thomas, Sign Language Instructor

“I have worked with ministry of education for the past thirty-odd years. And one of the things that we would sometimes we would get children or past students, youths who have been to the police station for a while and because of the inability to communicate with them, they end up being there for a long while and sometimes it’s something simple that could have been solved by just by communicating with them. So I think it’s extremely important that the police officers learn how to communicate with people who are deaf and also to identify when they are deaf so that they can use whatever they need to use to get a message across to them.”

 

After completing the initial phase of the training, officers will return in a few weeks to for more advanced lessons.

 

Erlett Thomas

“We’re trying to work with words that will suit the police department. So we’re doing basic now. They’re learning the alphabet and numbers because it’s extremely important for you to learn your alphabet. If you can’t sign something, you can spell it out and the person, the deaf person, will understand what you’re saying. Versus you just stand there and you do nothing. That’s So you spell out the word, and then you can continue. Even if I am talking to someone who is deaf and I don’t know the sign for the word, I can spell the word and I’ll tell them, sign that word for me and they will sign the word for me and we will continue with the conversation.”

 

The officers have been receptive to the training and the police sergeant in the family violence unit is proud of the progress that she has made so far. She says that everything learnt will be used to make her better at her job.

 

 

 

 

Britney Gordon

“What’s one thing that you’ve learned that stood out to you so far that you feel you’ll be taking back into your job?”

 

Rasheed Coleman

“Everything. Everything. We’re starting from scratch and some of us were completely clueless.  And so definitely everything.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.