You have the right to remain silent. Whether you have a disability or not, you do not have to talk to the police.

You do not need to consent, or say yes, to a search. If you are arrested, you have the right to a lawyer and the government must give you one if you cannot afford one.

See the ACLU Stopped By Police Fact Sheet for your general rights with the police.

You have the right to be free from discrimination and to get reasonable accommodations. As a person with a disability, you have rights from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) and the Illinois Human Rights Act. This means that police officers cannot discriminate against you because of your disability. It also means they must make reasonable accommodations to the way they do things to make sure you are treated fairly.

A reasonable accommodation means a change in the usual way that the police do things in order to treat you fairly for your disability needs.  

• You do not have to make a formal request for an accommodation under the ADA, but the police do need to know that a disability accommodation is needed. For that reason, you will need to tell them about the type of disability you have and how it impacts you during the interaction.
• You should ask for the types of accommodations that you know are the most helpful to you.
• The “accommodation” must be something that helps with the disability needs but it also has to be safe for everyone involved.
• If police arrest you for disability-related actions that are not actually illegal, you may have a false arrest claim.

Reasonable accommodations can be required for any kind of police interaction where there are disability needs, from stops on the street to calls for help; arrests and interrogations; witness interviews and any other police “service” or activity.

Yes. If you have a service animal that is under your control, you have the right to stay with your service animal during the arrest process.

Reasonable accommodations are specific to the person with the disability and their needs during the police interaction. People with physical, cognitive, developmental, and mental health disabilities are all protected by the ADA. They all have the right to reasonable accommodations if needed, no matter what type of disability.

Some examples of accommodations are:

• Giving more time to understand and respond to the officers’ orders.
• Stepping back to create space.
• Giving devices and interpretation services to meaningfully communicate.
• Letting someone stim if they need to, instead of assuming that stimming means they did something bad.
• Using different ways of communicating. Asking a person with mobility needs about the best way to move to another location, and being careful with their mobility device.
• Reading documents out loud for a person with a visual impairment.

If someone calls the police for you in an emergency, make sure that person knows about your disabilities, medications, and accommodations that you need.

• When you can, write down everything you remember, the time and place where it happened, and the officer’s name, badge, and car number. Get contact information for witnesses too.
• Take photographs of injuries or locations.
• If you are hurt, get medical attention right away.
• File a written complaint with the agency’s internal affairs division or civilian complaint board.

Most police agencies have their own way to make a complaint about police misconduct. You should follow their rules and keep a copy of everything you submit. Below are some specific agencies and their rules.

Chicago Police Department:

• You can file a complaint with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) at https://www.chicagocopa.org/complaints/
• You can also file an anonymous complaint with the Office of the Inspector General at https://home.chicagopolice.org/services/file-an-anonymous-complaint/

Cook County Sherriff:

• Complaints can be filed with the internal office of professional review at https://www.cookcountysheriffil.gov/contact/office-professional-review/ or through the Cook County Office of the Inspector General at https://www.cookcountyil.gov/service/filing-complaint-office-independent-inspector-general.

Illinois State Police:

• Fill out this officer complaint form and email it to Complaints@Illinois.gov.

If you want to file a lawsuit about your interaction with the police, remember that for most legal claims there is a deadline to file in court. That deadline is called a “statute of limitations.” This is usually two years from the time it happened for federal cases and one-year for state law claims.

To get more documents from the police about the incident, you can use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ask for records from the police department. Most departments have a system or a person who handles FOIAs. For smaller departments, it may be through the city or county. Ask the department to ask for that process.

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE COMPLAINT PROCESS DUE TO YOUR DISABILITY, YOU CAN ASK FOR HELP FROM EQUIP FOR EQUALITY.

The police are not always the best people to help with medical or mental health emergencies. Talk with your friends, family, or other people you trust about ways that they can help during a crisis. Other options include calling 988 or a crisis response team in your area.  

Here are some things you can do instead of calling the police:

• Contact Chicago’s Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) team.
• Find a local crisis provider in your area: https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=30893

• Call 988 for the 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline that gives free and private phone help to people in distress by a trained crisis counselor.

• Call 311 for the Mobile Crisis Response and Shelter Referral Program (MCRSRP) if you are homeless.

• Call 211 for information and the names of places that may be able to help. 211 also helps connect people to food, housing, utility payment help, health care, transportation, childcare, employment, mental health, disaster information and help, and more.