Final report: Town Hall on Public Safety: People with Disabilities and Policing

OCTOBER 2023
OF
A
CITY
LUSTEM
OFFICE OF
POLICE OVERSIGHT
OUNDED
1839
TOWN HALL ON
PUBLIC SAFETY
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
AND POLICING
1
INTRODUCTION
In 2020, the Office of Police Oversight (OPO) launched an initiative to address the
concerns of community members living with disabilities and their experience with
policing in Austin, Texas. In collaboration with the Mayor's Office, the Equity
Office, the Mayor's Committee for People with Disabilities, and community
advocates, OPO hosted two community events to learn more about the
experiences that people with disabilities-both visible and invisible-have with
the Austin Police Department (APD). The Office of Police Oversight developed
recommendations based on community feedback to improve interactions
between community members with disabilities and APD.
BACKGROUND
Thus far, the City of Austin's efforts to study the experiences that people with
disabilities have with law enforcement have focused on the interactions between
police and people living with mental health conditions. For example, the Office of
the City Auditor published a report in 2018 analyzing the Austin Police
Department's response to mental health-related calls for service. The report
analyzed fatal police encounters in the fifteen most populated cities and found
that APD had the highest per capita rate of fatal police shootings involving
persons believed to be experiencing a mental health crisis.
In 2022, consultants retained by the City of Austin released further research
examining APD's use of force involving individuals with behavioral and mental
health conditions. The consultants found that, between January 1, 2017, and
December 31, 2020, APD officers used force against 9,041 individuals, 3,422
(38.7%) of whom were perceived by APD officers as "mentally impaired."
Additionally, between 2017 and 2020, there was a 94% increase in the use of
force experienced by community members who were perceived by APD officers
as "mentally impaired," from 30.4% in 2017 to 46.0% in 2020.
2
60.0%
50.0%
46.0%
40.0%
37.6%
35.5%
30.4%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
(n=1,868)
(n=2,008)
(n=2,776)
(n=2,389)
GRAPH 1: PERCENTAGE OF INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING FORCE WHO WERE PERCEIVED TO BE
MENTALLY IMPAIRED, BY YEAR.
DATA SOURCE: KROLL ASSOCIATES.
While this data highlights a critical issue, community members with disabilities
have raised concerns about the narrow focus of this research and identified gaps
in the findings. At the July 10, 2020, meeting of the Mayor's Committee for People
with Disabilities, multiple committee members voiced concerns regarding the
negative experiences that people with disabilities often have with law
enforcement. Committee members objected to the lack of data on people with
disabilities beyond mental health.
"So, it seems that equity doesn't
include people with disabilities, "said
Committee Member Deborah Trejo at
the Committee's July 2020 meeting.
3
After receiving this feedback, OPO developed a plan to engage community
members to learn about the experiences of people with disabilities when
interacting with APD. On May 21, 2021, in collaboration with the Mayor's
Committee for People with Disabilities, the Mayor's Office, Equity Office, and OPO
hosted the first Town Hall on Public Safety: People with Disabilities and Policing.
During this virtual event, 42 community members shared their knowledge. This
group included individuals with lived experiences, care providers, and others who
wanted to listen and learn. The event offered closed captioning and
interpretation in American Sign Language, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Additional
context and findings from the first town hall event are available here.
Based on the feedback from community members at the 2021 Town Hall (see
"Implementing Feedback"), OPO determined a second event was needed to
further address concerns about intersectionality and community engagement,
and OPO identified a need to integrate community experts into the planning
process. OPO recruited a wide range of community experts to join the planning
committee, including representatives from SAFE Alliance, Texas Parent to Parent,
ArtSpark, and U.R. Our Hope. The planning committee worked with OPO to
identify and incorporate best practices in accessibility, develop the event
programming, and assist in the event promotion and execution.
The final town hall was a hybrid event held on June 25, 2022, hosted in person at
the Asian American Resource Center and online over Zoom. City of Austin
employees facilitated conversations about what intersectionality means to
participants and how it affects community members' experiences. For online and
in-person attendees, OPO offered interpretation in American Sign Language and
Spanish. Additionally, OPO translated the event materials into Spanish and
Braille.
4
IMPLEMENTING FEEDBACK
Based on community feedback and recommendations from the 2021 Town Hall,
several changes were implemented into the planning of the 2022 Town Hall.
Recommendation: The next event should focus on building a greater
sense of empathy and understanding for people with disabilities. The
impact a disability has on an individual's life should be part of the event
planning and conversations at the event.
Fostering an environment of understanding and cultivating empathy were central
to the planning process for OPO's second town hall for people with disabilities
and policing. OPO developed a project plan reflective of this feedback by
incorporating regular collaboration and consultation with several subject matter
experts, including ten local advocacy organizations, to develop a program that
centered attendees' lived experiences. OPO consulted with these stakeholders
regularly to ensure that the program would address the specific concerns
expressed in the feedback provided by community members.
Recommendation: When promoting the event and crafting policies, City
staff should give consideration to and encourage participation from
people living with disabilities, especially those whose experiences also
intersect with race, gender, class, and other social identities.
During the town hall, OPO facilitated a group exercise using an intersectionality
matrix to challenge participants with confronting the ways in which experiences
of discrimination and oppression can be amplified when an individual is a
member of multiple marginalized groups. During the exercise, participants
emphasized a desire for policymaking that is more inclusive and
accommodating of their unique needs.
5
Recommendation: Conversations held at the event should include
ideas for community engagement between law enforcement and
people with disabilities.
An entire segment of the event's program was set aside for small group
discussions about the Austin Police Department's (APD) community engagement
efforts. Participants were encouraged to share engagement suggestions with
representatives from APD that they'd like to see implemented in future outreach
initiatives targeted towards engaging with people with disabilities.
6
METHODOLOGY
Seventy-five community members attended the meeting online and in person,
including four APD officers and APD Chief Joseph Chacon. During the meeting,
OPO staff and other City of Austin employees collected community feedback
through two mechanisms.
First, all in-person and online attendees participated in a large group discussion
centered around intersectionality. Second, attendees were separated into small
groups to discuss (1) how the concept of intersectionality affects the experiences
of people with disabilities and their interactions with law enforcement and (2)
identify ways for APD to address concerns through community engagement
tactics. Facilitators utilized Zoom's breakout room feature for online attendees to
host the small group discussions. In-person attendees participated in small group
discussions at tables throughout the venue.
The first discussion at the town hall
examined an intersectionality table
Activity 1- Intersectionality Table
With a power
Who
Who is
(Figure 1) and encouraged attendees
Identity
dynamic (-ism)
benefits?
marginalized?
to identify how living with a disability
Race
Racism
White
BIPOC
Class
Classism
Wealthy, upper-class
Poor or impoverished
can be more challenging when an
Gender
Sexism
Men
Women, intersex, trans,
nonbinary
individual is also a part of other
Age
Ageism
People aged 25-55
Under 25 and over 55
marginalized communities. Examples
Ability
Ableism
People living without a
People living with a
disability
disability
of intersecting groups included, but
What's missing in the identities category? In other words, are there other identities
that may impact an individuals' life?
were not limited to, marginalized
Based on your own personal experience, what category do you identify with most in
your community?
race, socioeconomic, and religious
What category do you feel has the biggest impact on your experience with law
enforcement in Austin?
groups. Participants were asked to
reflect on how their experiences have
been affected by power structures
FIGURE 1: INTERSECTIONALITY TABLE
that empower some groups to the
detriment of others.
7
For the second discussion, facilitators in the breakout groups asked questions to
build an understanding of community members' lived experiences and gather
feedback on how APD officers can improve interactions with community members.
Facilitators used realistic scenarios to demonstrate the phases of a police encounter,
and how those phases represent critical points for community members.
Discussion Prompts
An Austin police officer approaches you and asks you to provide them
with your name and identification.
How would living with different types of disabilities, including
your own disability, impact the outcome of this interaction?
Have you been treated differently because of your other
identities?
Now, the officer asks you to step aside for further questions.
How would living with different types of disabilities, including
your own disability, impact the outcome of this interaction?
Have you been treated differently because of your other
identities?
The officer informs you that you are under arrest. They then tell you to
turn around and put your hands behind your back.
How would living with different types of disabilities, including
your own disability, impact the outcome of this interaction?
Have you been treated differently because of your other
identities?
How can we envision a better interaction that includes all disabilities
and identities?
What would be an ideal outcome for you when interacting with
law enforcement?
What forms of community engagement would you like to see from
APD?
8
Each breakout group was hosted by City of Austin employees who acted as
facilitators and notetakers. Notetakers played important roles during the event. For
online attendees, notetakers recorded community feedback shared during the
conversations, as well as any comments left in the Zoom chat. For in-person
attendees, notetakers paraphrased the conversation and noted direct quotes and
key themes. OPO recorded audio from the in-person sessions and video from the
online sessions.
OPO collected 191 responses from community members. The responses were
aggregated and anonymized as qualitative data for synthesis. Data synthesis
combines separate elements or components, identifies commonalities between the
individual pieces, and draws conclusions from these common themes. This
synthesis revealed reoccurring themes throughout the community feedback, either
in response to the intersectionality or group conversation.
The feedback included numerous accounts
of interactions with law enforcement
ranging from exemplary to unfavorable.
staff
membe
Attendees described experiences with
For
virtual
assistanc
police officers who were empathetic and
the
chat
in
Zoon
thoughtful, as well as others that left them
feeling intimidated or misunderstood and
indicated a need for ongoing training and
professional development. Community
members noted that some of the negative
althy, upper-class
experiences may also be attributed to a
broader societal misunderstanding of
people with disabilities. The feedback also
included community members' suggestions
for outreach strategies that officers could
utilize to strengthen their relationships with
people with disabilities.
9
FINDINGS
The feedback from the discussions was aggregated and
anonymized as qualitative data for analysis. OPO staff
conducted a data synthesis of the community feedback
from the event.
This section will feature statements summarizing the
themes found in the feedback. To provide more context,
each summary statement will be followed by direct quotes
from event attendees. The quotations are unedited and
were selected to represent the nuance in the community
concerns about interacting with law enforcement as a
person with a disability.
10
FEAR AND VULNERABILITY
Community members with disabilities may feel vulnerable and powerless when
interacting with law enforcement, contributing to an overall sense of anxiety and
fear. This stress is amplified when people with disabilities are also part of other
marginalized groups. These concerns often lead to an avoidance of police
interactions altogether or seeking alternative resources for support.
"When I get bad migraines, get fearful that an officer might
pull up and think I'm under the influence, but really I'm just
not feeling well. If students are under a lot of stress, they
might have difficulty expressing themselves, and ka [sic]
vocalization could be misinterpreted by officers. The
staring off or absence of responsiveness of some seizures
could be interpreted as ignoring a command from an
officer. Make sure that officers are open-minded and have
education about mental, physical, and other disabilities."
11
TRAINING AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
There are concerns that APD training is not inclusive of the various experiences of
people with disabilities, which may lead to negative outcomes for community
members. Town hall attendees expressed a need for more specified training
about different types of disabilities, both visible and invisible, and the ways in
which these conditions can require alternative methods of communication.
Community members also expressed a desire to include social workers, medical
professionals, and other service providers in the development of future training
opportunities for law enforcement.
"Is it possible to have a badge, icon on drivers' licenses or
license plates, so to alert officers to the needs of the person
they are encountering before tensions rise due to frustration
of lack of understanding or willingness to communicate?"
"It's impossible for cops to be trained on all of this. We need
specialists. We don't have one guy doing every part of the
work at my job. We have guys who are specialists. We have
eight, ten different specializations. Cops are the only rapid
response we have for anything. If you need someone there
right away, the only option you have is to call the police. We
need to create rapid responses."
12
UNDERSTANDING THE DIVERSITY OF DISABILITIES
There are assumptions about perceived levels of ability and a lack of knowledge
about how both visible and invisible disabilities can be perceived. These
misunderstandings can lead to miscommunications and unnecessary escalations
in situations where community members with disabilities interact with law
enforcement. It is important to recognize the diverse range of disabilities and for
officers to become better equipped to accommodate all community members.
2000
"Disability isn't just one thing, there are so many
things that don't present the same way. Thinking
about situations like double amputees who has a
wheelchair helper and being separated from them,
are those things thought about are their policies
regarding these types of actions? Knowing that
every behavior is someone saying something,
asking why's, what happened to your day, how are
you doing? what I need to feel safe is a reimagining
of these situations instead of just barking orders."
RECOMMENDATIONS
RESEARCH
APD should collaborate with the City Manager
and OPO to provide regular public updates on
the implementation status of recommendations
from various consultants and reports to improve
interactions between people with disabilities
and APD officers. The City of Austin has invested
in several consultants and reports on
interactions between people with mental health
conditions and APD officers. This includes the
2018 Office of the City Auditor analysis of APD's
mental health response, the 2019 Meadows
Mental Health Policy Institute report, the 2021
Office of Police Oversight report on use-of-force,
and the numerous reports submitted by Kroll
Associates over the last two and a half years. This
research has yielded insightful findings and
many actionable recommendations.
14
DATA
APD should examine how it documents, measures, and publishes data on
interactions between officers and people with disabilities, specifically how
data is collected, categorized, and reported to the public. Currently, APD's
publicly available data related to people with disabilities is focused on the
interactions between APD officers and people with mental health
conditions. OPO is unaware of any public-facing data documenting the
number of use-of-force incidents involving people with disabilities outside
of a mental health condition. Until more thorough, quantifiable data is
available, it will remain difficult to have a more complete understanding of
the issues and make recommendations for informed, lasting improvements.
APD should collaborate with community members to develop more
inclusive ways to collect data representing the diverse lived experiences of
people with disabilities. People with disabilities are often
underrepresented, particularly regarding data that captures the diversity of
their lived experiences. APD can address this gap by engaging with
community members to determine how to define and track interactions.
Across the feedback provided to OPO, community members repeatedly
offered to provide input, feedback, or otherwise help APD improve its
service delivery. This is an opportunity for APD to build trust with this
community and collect meaningful data and develop actionable
improvements to create positive change.
APD should work with OPO to review complaints submitted by (or involving)
community members who identify themselves as persons living with
disabilities or mention key phrases, like assistive technologies or service
animals. APD can review these complaints as general feedback to identify
areas for review and improvement. APD can utilize this data and other
feedback to improve the policies and practices that inform interactions with
people with disabilities.
15
DATA
As the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) states in its February 2021 report,
"What Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Need to Know about Collecting and Analyzing Use-of-
Force Data," agencies cannot manage what they do not measure. Collecting high-
quality data on use of force is a necessity. Readily available data are important
for internal tracking. More detailed, high-quality data also contribute to
legitimacy when information is shared externally with the public and media. And
without data, there is no way to evaluate policies." In the report, PERF discusses
its Use-of-Force Data Framework, which is a model for the who, what, where,
when, and how of use-of-force data collection. In discussing the data framework,
PERF highlights the importance of collecting high-quality use-of-force data,
including data related to physical disabilities; properly analyzing it; and making it
publicly available to inform policy changes.
16
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
APD should identify staff whose community engagement and outreach
focus entails building positive relationships with people with disabilities to
promote a more inclusive public safety landscape. The liaison should
connect directly with people with lived experience and their support
networks, like service providers, care providers, and family members, to
seek insights and feedback from the community on how their needs could
be better met by APD.
APD should host multiple community engagement events each year to
receive feedback directly from people with disabilities. These events should
create a safe and inclusive space for people with disabilities to share their
experiences, needs, and concerns with APD leadership. Additionally, APD
should attend at least three community events annually that are hosted by
organizations working with and for people with disabilities.
APD should identify strategies for
officers to increase their level of
engagement with community
members living with disabilities to
build trust and demonstrate
receptivity to community feedback.
17
TRAINING
APD should integrate relevant materials, including scholarly research, news
articles, and writing by people with lived experience, into the APD training
academy modules related to people with disabilities. These materials should
augment the academy curriculum by providing anecdotal insights from
people with various disabilities.
Officers should be encouraged to pursue professional development and
training opportunities that strengthen their ability to make meaningful
connections with community members. APD should work with stakeholders
to develop improvements to its professional training opportunities to equip
officers with techniques and strategies to engage with community members
with disabilities in alignment with national best practices in policing. A
capstone for this training should include in-person experiences with
community members with disabilities SO that officers can build empathy and
understanding.
18
CONCLUSION
OPO developed this initiative in direct response to community members who
advocated for action to address their concerns about interactions with law
enforcement. OPO intentionally centered people with disabilities throughout
this project, with the understanding that lived experience is lived expertise.
OPO's goal was to listen to community members, learn from lived
experiences, and develop actionable recommendations to improve their
interactions with law enforcement. At each event, people with disabilities,
advocates, and other stakeholders openly and honestly shared their
experiences, concerns, and challenges related to interacting with law
enforcement. OPO is grateful to the community members who trusted us to
hold space for these critical discussions, and we sincerely thank all
participants for their willingness to contribute.
OPO's recommendations focused on addressing the community's fears and
concerns around a lack of understanding, respect, training, preparedness,
and outreach. While this report highlights many areas for improvement,
there are even more opportunities to build trust with community members
and demonstrate a commitment to safety for all.
Community members have called on the City of Austin to take action to
improve safety and create better interactions between officers and the
public. The Austin Police Department has an opportunity to serve community
members with disabilities by implementing OPO's recommendations. These
recommendations will enhance safety and improve interactions between
APD and people with disabilities by equipping officers with the tools and
resources needed to increase understanding and knowledge.
19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This event was the product of collaboration with several partners
who provided expert consultation to ensure accessibility and
inclusivity. We are truly grateful for their help in making this work
possible.
Mayor's Committee for People
Equity Office
with Disabilities
City of Austin's
ArtSpark Texas
Communications and Public
U.R. Our Hope
Information Office
SAFE Alliance
City of Austin staff volunteers
Texas Parent to Parent
Asian American Resource
City of Austin's Americans with
Center staff
Disabilities Act Program
City of Austin leadership also played a key role in ensuring this
event's success. We appreciate their participation and support.
Mayor Steve Adler
Lt. Lawrence Davis (APD)
City Manager Spencer Cronk
Officer John Gabrielson (APD)
Chief Joseph Chacon (APD)
Officer Frank Creasey (APD)
CALL
Plant
20
FURTHER READING
For additional information about the dynamics between law enforcement and
people with disabilities, please see the resources linked below:
Data
2020 Response to Resistance Data Open Data City of Austin Texas
2022 10 3 2019 Data of S.D.3 - Number and percentage of use of force
incidents in proportion to the number of arrests made Open Data
City.
of Austin Texas
S.D.3 2020 Reports by Subject Characteristics
Open Data
City of Austin
Texas
What Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Need to Know About Collecting and
Analyzing Use-of-Force Data (policeforum.org)
Government Resources
Advancing Public Safety for Officers and Individuals with Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) (usdoj.gov)
Commonly Asked Questions About the ADA and Law Enforcement ADA.gov
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Training for Jailers
Texas
Commission on Law Enforcement
Texas Driving with Disability
Office of the Texas Governor
Greg Abbott
Training Resources
PLECET Conference (plecetconference2023.org)
Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit
The International Association of Chiefs of Police Law Enforcement Policy Center
Your Rights! People with Disabilities and Law Enforcement Disability Rights
California