United States of America v. Humboldt County, California - Settlement Agreement

H. LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

23. Within three (3) months of the entry of this Consent Decree, the County will implement the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office’s Policy Statement on Effective Communication with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Attachment D, and distribute to all sheriff department officers the Guide for Law Enforcement Officers When in Contact with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Attachment E.

24. Within three (3) months of the entry of this Consent Decree, the County will hire or contract with local qualified oral and sign language interpreters to be available to its sheriff’s department twenty-four hours every day.

25. Within three (3) months of the entry of this Consent Decree, the County will equip each sheriff station or substation and each jail and detention facility with a sufficient number of working TTYs, videophones, hearing aid compatible telephones, and volume control telephones, but no fewer than one (1) of each, to enable people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have speech impairments to make telephone calls of the same frequency and with the same availability as those people who do not use TTYs or videophones.  Where telephone calls are time-limited, the County will adopt policies permitting a longer period of time for individuals using a TTY, videophone, or relay service due to the slower nature of these communications as compared to voice communications.  If any person who is deaf, hard of hearing, or who has a speech impairment prefers a different method of communication, such as a captioned telephone or computer, the County will make reasonable efforts to provide the communication device requested.