From the newsroom of the WCCO-TV, Channel 4 News, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Thursday, July 14, 2005 .....

Police Resources Short For Special Needs Families

After a 9-year-old Minneapolis boy reported missing was found safe, questions were raised about the resources the Minneapolis police had available for the hearing impaired.

Dallas Labno, the missing boy, had apparently gone to a friend's house to spend the night. His parents, who are deaf, had trouble communicating with officers.

"The police didn't explain anything, even with the interpreter here," Skye True, his aunt said. "The interpreter came later."

The family said officers asked the couple to write down answers to their questions, but they couldn't.

The general public oftentimes believes deaf people can read lips or they can automatically read and write English as well as hearing people.

On the contrary, most deaf people learn English as a second language.

The Minneapolis Police department said they have seven officers who can use sign language.

Officer Ron Reier, spokesperson for the department said, "Last night, it's my understanding, we had an officer sent to the house who signs for her sister. That officer is not a "certified" signer, but that's what we had available immediately."

When told of the situation, Lisa Ewan of the Metro Deaf School said, "I'm not surprised, they ask people who knows sign language?"

Ewan said they often overlook important information like the person's skill level or experience.

The Metro Deaf School works on skills for the deaf such as reading or writing English.

"Unfortunately, we don't have all the necessary components to satisfy the public 100 percent of the time," Reier said.

According to the census, nearly 68,000 people in Minnesota are deaf and roughly, 430,000 are hard of hearing.

The majority of those people live in the Twin Cities so they can be near interpreters and other services.

© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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