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Man branded with swastika prompts police training
August 13th, 2010
Branded with a swastika and marked with hate speech, a young man from Navajo escaped his accused captors and walked to a Farmington convenience store for help back in April. But when officers arrived to talk to him there was some confusion.
“We are concerned they didn’t recognize the handicap soon enough,” Deputy Chief Kyle Westall told KRQE News 13 shortly after the attack in May.
The department said at first the officers thought the victim was drunk. Eventually they realized the 22-year-old was not drunk; he was mentally challenged.
“It brought a deficiency to light in our agency,” Sgt. Robert Perez said.
The department decided more training was needed.
That training started Tuesday and is being put on by the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs in collaboration with Soulful Presence.
“We really want them to feel more comfortable when they encounter someone with a disability,” said Marcie Davis, program director for the training.
The four-hour class teaches officers how to first recognize someone who has a disability.
“We’re talking about developmental disabilities, about physical disabilities and psychiatric,” Davis said, “all different types of things officers might need to know if they encounter someone who’s been a victim with multiple types of disabilities.”
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