'Swastika case' prompts police training

FARMINGTON, N.M. (KRQE) - 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.”

Then they learn different ways to accommodate the person’s disability such as calling for an interpreter or their superior if they need more help.

“The response by officers needs to be tailored for those individuals,” Perez said.

For many this is a refresher course. Officers do receive some disability awareness training in the academy, but Davis said it’s not nearly enough.

“What this training does is reminds officers that they need to break their mindset of the worst-case scenario and treat people as people,” Perez said.

The department plans to make this training an annual event.

The suspects in this case, Paul Beebe, Jesse Sanford and William Hatch, are all facing assault and kidnapping charges.

The district attorney’s Office is also seeking a hate-crime enhancement for all three men.