Saturday, November 17, 2012

Next LEAP meeting will be held Thursday Nov 29th


The CIL of South Florida held its organizational meeting of the launch of our new Law Enforcement Assistance Project (LEAP) on Thursday, November 1st, and we are pleased to report that the meeting was well-attended and that participants actively engaged one another in a vibrant discussion about services to the deaf community by area law enforcement agencies. Participants included many members of the deaf community and a wide variety of law enforcement agencies. 

The meeting was moderated by Brenda Cummings and Natalie Basna, deaf advocates at the CIL, assisted by Marc Dubin, Esq., the CIL's Director of Advocacy. Brenda and Natalie have done a remarkable job of assisting members of the deaf community in becoming involved in advocacy and in efforts to learn and exercise their rights under the ADA. Brenda brings a wealth of experience to this effort, with specialized training obtained from the Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Service (ADWAS), a program funded by the Justice Department which serves as a national model for providing services to victims of domestic violence with hearing loss. Natalie also brings a level of commitment to the civil rights of members of the deaf community that has helped consumers who are deaf obtain services that are accessible to them. 

The participants learned about how area police departments respond to domestic violence calls, and the efforts they make to ensure that a sign language interpreter is provided at the scene of a crime to ensure that responding officers are able to effectively interview victims, witnesses, and suspects. They also learned from law enforcement officials about how the police departments' ADA Coordinators assist officers to understand how to obtain the services of sign language interpreters and how to ensure that the sign language services can be provided quickly so that statements can be obtained that can be used in prosecutions of crimes. 

The enthusiasm of the law enforcement community attending the meeting was evident, as they interacted with the members of the deaf community in attendance, answering questions forthrightly and asking probing questions to learn how to enhance services. There was a great deal of discussion about using video remote interpreting services and about Justice Department technical assistance and settlement agreements that addressed the legal obligations of police departments to ensure that appropriate auxiliary aids and services are provided, as well as discussion about effective communication policies to allow police departments to be able to ensure that qualified sign language interpreters are provided to communicate. Law enforcement participants learned about the limitations of lip reading and of passing notes back and forth, and learned of the importance of the role of sign language interpreters.

The next meeting of the LEAP program is scheduled to be held at the CIL offices onThursday, November 29th, from 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm.

At that meeting, we hope to have a  special guest, Kay Chiodo, the owner of Deaf Link, a Video Remote Interpreter (VRI) service based in Texas, who will answer questions about VRI and talk about their experiences serving police departments throughout the United States. In addition to participating in person, participants will be able to participate by conference call and by Skype.  The conference call number is 866-730-7514.  Pin: 938460

If you are interested in participating, please call Natalie at 786-975-1754 (VP) or Marc at 1-305-896-3000, to rsvp, if possible. 

Police Departments in Miami Dade County may also schedule a free legal training on the application of the ADA to the provision of services to the deaf community, at their offices, by contacting Marc Dubin, Esq. at 1-305-896-3000 or at mdubin@pobox.com. 

Marc serves as Director of Advocacy at the CIL, and formerly served as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, from 1993-2005, where he was responsible for nationwide enforcement of the ADA on behalf of the United States. He also served as a prosecutor for ten years, and as Special Counsel to the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women, where he was responsible for assisting with implementation and interpretation of the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). 

Our thanks to Brenda, Natalie, and all of the enthusiastic participants who attended the inaugural meeting of the LEAP Program. We are off to a great start, and look forward to growing the program and helping to enhance the relationship between law enforcement and the deaf community. 


   

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