Police interactions and the ADA

There’s so much to think about in a police interaction, whether it is voluntary (you call the cops) or a surprise (they show up or pull you over.)

Today, I had a second instance to be on the phone with a client during a police interaction. This client is with PTSD from family court trauma and the unreasonable actions of police.

Police, as a rule, jump headlong into their assumptions, which are based on a one-sided report or 911 call, which is then often misinterpreted by the dispatcher. It’s a hall of mirrors for the cops, and they just come in and do the bull in the china shop routine, and figure it out later. Intellectual reasoning is rare, because they thrive on adrenaline, and that cuts out a lot of ability to reason.

Which brings us to the affected, in this case, my client.

Both times I walked this client through police interactions were a huge success.

This Statement of Interest, from Lou v. Lopinto, lays out that police have a duty to accommodate, IF they know about a disability. For anyone that has watched youtube videos, they still fuck it up. I just saw a video this week where a cop is brutalizing a male while his wife screams “He has severe PTSD!”. They just rolled past it, and in that case, there were no exigent circumstances.

Absent exigent circumstances, such as a life-threat, they are with a duty to accommodate, if they know about a disability.

This is why I carry a card that discloses that I have a communication disability, and need to connect with their ADA Coordinator to arrange accommodations before consensually communicating with them.

When I tell you that they won’t have an ADA Coordinator, or they won’t know who this person is for their department, I say this with a 95% degree of certainty, based on years of experience.

I digress.

In my client’s circumstance, they would have been severely triggered if they were put in an interrogation room just to report a probable crime to their child.

Think about it. You’re going to the police department, which already triggers you because you have PTSD from the police, and then they take you into an interrogation room that locks you in, and is usally very small. That’s a big NOPE.

The first police interaction with this client was at a hospital, where the ex made false abuse claims, and it could not have resolved better, and with more professionalism by the officers involved. The hospital staff, on the other hand, were total assholes and very intimidating, threatening, coercive and interfered with my client’s ADA rights.

But in the end, CPS said, uh, no, and the client went home with their children. This cycle has been going on for a while, and it happens in most custody cases that have a narcissist or other psychologically bent individual wanting to weaponize the children.

Today, the client wanted to report harm, with actual evidence, to the police.

The officer that took the report was introduced, and I started in on my applying the ADA, and letting the officer know that my client needed accommodations.

About 15 seconds into what I was saying, the officer interrupted and asked what he could do for me.

I told the officer, that the first thing he could do for me was to let me finish before speaking, because people with communication disabilities are often left in places of being discriminated against by standard operating procedure, and they are left truly unheard.

I wasn’t in the room physically with the client, but the client reported that the officer immediately changed course, hung his head, and let me finish.

What I had to say was about a minute long, and very important with a lot of details on how this should go to accommodate my client so that equal access was achieved.

In the end, the client got out their story, showed the evidence, and provided copies to the officer, and an investigation was started.

It’s a good idea to prepare oneself for the possiblity of police interactions, and to carry some written statement that discloses disability and asks for accommodation, in my opinion. As a reader of this blog stated, it is less beneficial to disclose the actual diagnosis, unless you absolutely know how it will reach the officer’s mind, or should reach their reasoning.

If you can’t do anything else, ask them if their body cams are on, and if not, ask them to turn them on. Then say “I have a disability and need your ADA Coordinator so that I can be accommodated before entering a conversation with you further.”

As always, this is not legal advice, but it IS sound advice.

P.D., Jay V. Shore, Certified ADA Advocate