Sally Taylor collection on the Citizens' Police Academy

A deaf man living in Rochester, NY named William Odom, was fatally shot by a member of the Rochester police force in 1997. Despite the shooting being ruled as justified since the victim was armed with knives, it still drew attention to the need for better communication to be established between the police and the deaf community. According to a Rochester Democrat and Chronicle article within the collection, it is believed that the Rochester Citizen’s Police Academy is the first anywhere to include deaf citizens. Members of the deaf community established a task force with City Councilwoman Maxine Childress Brown, who has deaf parents and helped secure a $6,000 grant from the city budget to pay for two class interpreters to make it possible. The class had 35 students – 14 deaf, 20 hearing, and one hard-of-hearing. The class met weekly for twelve weeks and involved many hands-on educational activities. These activities included learning to fire a handgun, meeting police service animals (such as dogs and horses), examining counterfeit currency, trying on heavy SWAT team suits, and even riding along with on-duty officers.