Austintown police train to interact effectively with disabled residents

By Elise Franco

AUSTINTOWN — Township law enforcement is becoming more attuned to interacting with residents with a physical or mental disability.

Police Chief Bob Gavalier said in-service training in recent years has focused on teaching officers how to best handle situations involving a person who may be handicapped in some way.

Gavalier said one session in this year’s training focused on communicating with the deaf and hearing- impaired. He said training in this area is important because several officers have dealt with deaf residents in the past.

“The major thing is us being able to communicate and understand their disability,” he said. “And understand how they perceive us.”

Pat Maille, interpreter coordinator for Community Center for the Deaf, said she approached Austintown about teaching a training course because oftentimes law enforcement officials aren’t well versed in such things.

“We visited a police academy recently and the part on deaf and hard of hearing in their handbook was maybe half a page,” she said. “We knew we should really be expanding on that.”

Maille said education is the only way officers can know how to properly interact with these residents.

“This is part of advocating for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community,” she said. “A lot of times these people are afraid to talk to officers or communicate with them.”

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.