Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD) is pleased to announce the release of the Ethan Saylor Alliance Law Enforcement Training Curriculum, designed to train officers on how to safely and appropriately interact with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
More than 50 curriculum sets have been distributed to local law enforcement agencies. Kits include a PowerPoint presentation with corresponding materials to be offered by training directors and coordinators for entry-level or in-service members. This training meets the minimum training objectives identified by the MD Police and Correctional Training Commissions. A key component of the training is the inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the training of law enforcement.
“This curriculum is the result of the tremendous efforts of both disability advocates and law enforcement,” says MDOD Secretary Carol A. Beatty. “The collaborative nature of the process has produced a curriculum that is rich in content and easy to implement for any agency.”
In 2013 Ethan Saylor, young man with Down Syndrome, died after an altercation with police at a Maryland movie theater. Three sheriff’s deputies who were working as mall security officers approached him at a movie theater in Frederick County, where he had watched a movie and then returned, without a ticket, to watch the movie again. The deputies forcibly removed him from the seat and he was later pronounced dead at a hospital. His death was ruled a homicide as a result of asphyxia.
The Ethan Saylor Alliance was passed in April of 2015 and was aimed at providing increased training for members of law enforcement and other public service entities on specific needs of those with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The premise of the alliance is that self-advocates take the central role in educating and informing the community in regard to the specific needs of those with disabilities. MDOD was tasked with forming an alliance of self-advocates, family members, disability related professionals, educators and members of law enforcement. The alliance meets regularly and meetings are open to the public.
For more information on the Ethan Saylor Alliance visit MDOD’s website: http://mdod.maryland.gov/about/Pages/Saylor-Alliance.aspx
