The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) sent a letter to the Seattle Police Chief John Diaz regarding the tragic killing of John T. Williams, a hard of hearing First Nation artist, by then Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk on August 30, 2010. Williams was shot four times by the officer while working with a knife on a board and allegedly did not respond to an officer’s repeated warning to drop his knife.
While Mr. Birk has resigned from the police force, the NAD urged Chief Diaz and the Seattle Police Department to take measures to avoid a similar situation like this from ever happening again. Such measures include but are not limited to requiring training for all officers on how to work with deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
The NAD website has a guide for police and law enforcement agents working with deaf and hard of hearing individuals and also a guide on communication access with police and law enforcement agents for deaf and hard of hearing individuals:
“The killing of John T. Williams was needless and is a terrible loss of a life. Police officers and law enforcement agencies across the United States need to provide training to their officers on how to work with deaf and hard of hearing individuals. This must never happen again” said NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins.
UPDATE:
On April 4th, NAD received a response from the Seattle Police Department along with a copy of their Police Department Policies and Procedures section on working with deaf and hard of hearing people. While this after-the-fact action does not dismiss the grave miscarriage of justice that happened to John T. Williams, the NAD hopes that these policies will prevent future unnecessary harm or deaths to deaf and hard of hearing people in Seattle. We also hope that other cities and municipalities will train their officers in how to work with deaf and hard of hearing members in their community.
The NAD strongly encourages members to check with their local law enforcement agencies to see what procedures and policies they have for working with deaf and hard of hearing members. Please feel free to use the Seattle Police Department’s policy as an example that can be improved upon. To obtain a copy of the guide and letter, please contact us.