Boca Raton Police Services Providing Services to Individuals with Disabilities PDF

BOCA RATON POLICE SERVICES DEPARTMENT Departmental Standards Directive 72.920 PROVIDING SERVICES TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES Revised: July 30, 2020 I. PURPOSE: This policy establishes guidelines for providing services to persons with disabilities that may affect their interactions with depar...

BOCA RATON POLICE SERVICES DEPARTMENT Departmental Standards Directive 72.920 PROVIDING SERVICES TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES Revised: July 30, 2020 I. PURPOSE: This policy establishes guidelines for providing services to persons with disabilities that may affect their interactions with departmental employees. II. POLICY: Employees of the Boca Raton Police Department are committed to providing quality services to all persons regardless of their status or abilities. Any necessary accommodations required by law or circumstances will be made to ensure the delivery of requested or required police services. III. DEFINITIONS: Auxiliary Aids and Services: Qualified interpreters, note pads, written materials, and other effective methods of making aurally or visually delivered materials available to individuals with hearing or visual impairments. Public Accommodation: A common carrier, airplane, motor vehicle, railroad train, motor bus, streetcar, boat, or other public conveyance or mode of transportation; hotel; lodging place; place of public accommodation, amusement, or resort; and other places to which the general public is invited, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons. Service Animal: An animal that is trained to perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The tasks may include, but are not limited to, guiding a person who is visually impaired or blind, alerting a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, pulling a wheelchair, assisting with mobility or balance, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, retrieving objects, or performing other special tasks. A service animal is not a pet. IV. PROCEDURE: A. LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTACT WITH DISABLED: 1. In emergency situations where a law enforcement officer (LEO) believes that time is of the essence in protecting life or property, necessary communication should be made in the quickest and most effective means possible. Effective: February 15, 2001 Revised: July 30, 2020 Providing Services to Individuals with Disabilities Directive No. 72.920 Page 1 of 6 2. When encountering persons with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities LEOs shall ensure that necessary communication is established by whatever means are practical and effective under the circumstances. LEOs must remain alert to the possibility that they are encountering an individual with a disability that is not readily detected such as epilepsy, dyslexia or various forms of autism and that behavior associated with these conditions could be mistaken for defiance or intoxication B. ARRESTS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES: 1. ACCOMMODATING SPECIAL NEEDS: a. An LEO making an arrest of an individual with a disability should make every effort to humanely accommodate the special needs of that individual, to the extent that time and safety permit. b. In accordance with FSS 901.215 when arresting any person who appears to be inebriated, intoxicated, or not in control of his or her physical functions, examine such person to ascertain whether or not the person is wearing a medic alert bracelet or necklace or has upon his or her person some other visible identifying device which would indicate a medical disability. c. Personal aids, e.g., wheelchairs, specials glasses, hearing aids, etc., and medications, shall be transported with the detainee and left at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office booking office. 2. HEARING IMPAIRED: a. If the detainee is hearing impaired, the LEO shall make every effort to communicate basic information to the person in the quickest, most effective means possible. i. If no other effective means of communication is available at the scene of the arrest, the detainee should be advised in writing that he/she is under arrest and will be transported for booking. a) If a subject without a hearing impairment would have been arrested on probable cause without an interview, then a subject with a hearing impairment in the same situation does not need to be provided with a qualified interpreter. b) If, however, a subject without a hearing impairment would not have been arrested without questioning or being offered an opportunity to explain facts related to the incident, then the subject needs to be questioned with the services of a qualified interpreter. ii. A detainee who is hearing impaired shall not be questioned without the services of a qualified interpreter. Effective: February 15, 2001 Revised: July 30, 2020 Providing Services to Individuals with Disabilities Directive No. 72.920 Page 2 of 6 C. NON-ARREST ENFORCEMENT ENCOUNTERS WITH INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES: 1. ACCOMMODATING SPECIAL NEEDS AT THE SCENE: a. In non-arrest enforcement situations, e.g., issuance of traffic summons, trespass warnings, or notices to appear, the employee should make every effort to accommodate the special needs of an individual with disabilities, to the extent that time and safety permit. i. Relevant information should be read to an individual who is visually impaired. ii. For an individual who is hearing impaired, relevant information should be communicated in writing or by other effective means, utilizing such resources as may be available at the scene. 2. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE: a. If additional services are requested by a person with a disability, but not necessary for the employee to meet a law enforcement objective, the individual should be instructed to contact the Department during regular hours to request additional assistance. b. If the employee needs the services of a qualified interpreter to meet an enforcement objective, the employee should request such assistance from public safety dispatchers. 25.16 D. NON-ENFORCEMENT ENCOUNTERS WITH PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: 1. Non-enforcement encounters with individuals with disabilities include interactions with witnesses, victims, and persons requesting information or other assistance. 2. ACCOMMODATING SPECIAL NEEDS: a. Employees should make every effort to accommodate the special needs of individuals with disabilities, to the extent that time and safety permit. b. Communications with individuals who are hearing impaired should be made by the quickest, most effective means possible. c. If the employee requires the services of a qualified interpreter to accomplish his/her communication objective or to provide effective communication with a crime victim, public safety dispatchers shall be contacted to arrange this service. 25.16 Effective: February 15, 2001 Revised: July 30, 2020 Providing Services to Individuals with Disabilities Directive No. 72.920 Page 3 of 6 d. Information required by law or Department written directives to be provided to victims or witnesses shall be provided in an accessible format to persons who are visually impaired. This may include, but not be limited to, options such as verbally reading the material, using resources found on the Department’s website, or large print documents. e. The Department has access to a Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD) phone line for speech impaired persons to summon police assistance. 3. ADDITIONAL SERVICES: a. If additional services to those available at the scene are requested by an individual with a disability, but not necessary for the employee to meet his/her objectives, the individual should be instructed to contact the Department during regular hours to request additional assistance. E. IMPERCEPTIBLE DISABILITIES: 1. Many disabilities are not immediately apparent. Employees should always be cognizant of emergency bracelets and other possible identifiers of a person with an imperceptible disability. a. An employee’s failure to recognize characteristics associated with certain invisible disabilities could have serious consequences for the person with the disability. i. Outward signs of a disability such as epilepsy generally do not exist unless the person with the disability experiences a seizure. ii. People with diabetes may have reactions from either too little insulin or too much insulin. iii. Detaining someone and preventing them from getting sugar could have serious health implications for the individual and liability consequences for the employee and the Department. 2. Employees should realize that involuntary behavior associated with some imperceptible disabilities may resemble behavior characteristically exhibited by intoxicated, or less frequently, combative individuals. a. A person experiencing a mild seizure may temporarily appear incoherent and physically imbalanced. 3. As with all types of disabilities, an employee’s first obligation is to protect the individual from unnecessary harm. a. When aiding a person experiencing a seizure, protection from obstacles, a calm voice, reassuring manner and patience are important responses. Effective: February 15, 2001 Revised: July 30, 2020 Providing Services to Individuals with Disabilities Directive No. 72.920 Page 4 of 6 b. Family members and friends should be sought to provide information and assistance. The family’s presence may prove invaluable in understanding the needs of the person with the disability and guiding the employee’s action. F. QUALIFIED INTERPRETERS: 25.16 1. An interpreter must be able to sign to the individual who is deaf what the hearing person is saying and to voice to the hearing person what is being signed by the individual who is deaf. 2. Because a qualified interpreter must be able to interpret impartially, a family member or friend may not be qualified to render the necessary interpretation because of factors such as emotional or personal involvement or considerations of confidentiality. 3. Although a qualified interpreter may be certified, a certified interpreter is not necessarily qualified. Similarly, certification is not required for an interpreter to be qualified. G. SERVICE ANIMALS: 1. Individuals with disabilities are entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges in all public accommodations. 2. Individuals with disabilities have the right to be accompanied by a service animal in all areas of a public accommodation that the public or customers are normally permitted to occupy. a. Documentation that the service animal is trained is not a precondition for providing service to an individual accompanied by a service animal. A public accommodation representative may ask if an animal is a service animal or what tasks the animal has been trained to perform in order to determine the difference between a service animal and a pet. b. An individual with a disability is liable for damage caused by a service animal if it is the regular policy and practice of the public accommodation to charge nondisabled persons for damages caused by their pets. c. A public accommodation may exclude or remove any animal from the premises, including a service animal, if the animal's behavior poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others. Allergies and fear of animals are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to an individual with a service animal. 3. It is unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation, or the agent of any person, firm, or corporation, to deny or interfere with admittance to, or enjoyment of, a public accommodation or otherwise interfere with the rights of an individual with a disability or the trainer of a service animal while engaged in the training of such an animal. Effective: February 15, 2001 Revised: July 30, 2020 Providing Services to Individuals with Disabilities Directive No. 72.920 Page 5 of 6 4. Any trainer of a service animal, while engaged in the training of such an animal, has the same rights and privileges with respect to access to public facilities and the same liability for damages as is provided for when disabled persons are accompanied by service animals. Approved: Michele Miuccio Chief of Police Effective: February 15, 2001 Revised: July 30, 2020 Date: Providing Services to Individuals with Disabilities Directive No. 72.920 Page 6 of 6