SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN AND THE CITY OF WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS UNDER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

17. Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will adapt for its own use and implement the City of Waukegan Police Department’s Policy Statement on Effective Communication with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing [Attachment C] and distribute to all police officers the Guide for Law Enforcement Officers When in Contact with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing [Attachment D].

18. Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will contract with one or more local qualified oral/sign language interpreter agencies to ensure that the interpreting services will be available on a priority basis, twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week, to its police officers or make other appropriate arrangements (such as contracting directly with or hiring qualified interpreters).

19. Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will ensure that each police station or substation and each jail is equipped with a working TTY to enable persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have speech impairments to make outgoing telephone calls. Where inmate telephone calls are time-limited, the City will adopt policies permitting inmates who use TTY’s a longer period of time to make those calls, due to the slower nature of TTY communications compared with voice communications.