#DeafSuccess: Scott Daily, Patrol Sergeant

[Begin video description. Video opens with a white man sitting slightly off center of screen. He is white with a brown buzzcut and short salt and pepper beard and wears wire frame glasses and hearing aids with cords leading to the back of his shirt. He wears a beige police uniform, a collared shirt with pockets and patches, with a walkie talkie microphone attached to his left shoulder above a gold star pin, patches on both sleeves depicting two Sheriff shields with “Sheriff” in gold over a brown banner on top and stars over different colors such as white and red on one and blue and red on the other. Beneath each shield are what appears to be three gold stripes. Over one breast pocket is the U.S. flag pin and a brass name plate. The other breast pocket has two pens. One wrist he wears a dark blue rubber bracelet with white stars, on the other wrist is a black rubber bracelet with white script. The room he is in has light walls with two flags on stands, one is the U.S. flag rimmed in gold and the other is also rimmed in gold with blue and red. The wall has a large brown poster with white font, the only words seen is “EXPLORERS”. Some outlet jacks are near the bottom. He signs:

 

“I worked in the oil field just to earn a living and survive. After doing that work for three years, I was *done* and ready to become a police officer.  I had wanted to be a cop as long as I can remember.”

 

The video becomes slightly dark and a teal border appears around the edges. In slow motion, next to white text reading “scott daily” and “patrol sergeant” on two lines, he lifts his head up and smiles at the camera.

 

The darkened tint and border disappears and we continue from before as Scott continues to sign:

 

“The director-“

 

He signs “director” twice and then shakes his head no as he grimaces and shakes his hand in a “no” or “no way” motion. Then, he continues:

 

“-of the police academy said, “You can’t do this. You’re deaf!”

 

He makes a slightly surprised expression, and continues:

 

“You’re telling me I can’t? Nah. I graduated at the top of my class! The director was impressed that I had completed academy and kept my word. I was told that my success in the academy was not the end, but just the beginning… because now the real work started. Police work and police academy are two different worlds.”

 

Video transitions to Daily turning out the lights to an office and stepping out of the room into the hallway. The office has a desk with a projector on top, a white board along one wall, a cabinet with three light colored handset (telephones) on a shelf below a television screen which is below a wall-mounted television screen. A flag on a stand is next to it and on the other side is a pull down projector screen. Walls are light and floor and furnishings are dark. A tan plastic nameplate right outside the door to the office is titled “TRAINING EOC” in white with braille right below.

 

Next is a close up of Daily’s shirt as he sits. The brass name tag under the U.S. flag pin is visible, reading “DAILY. The Sheriff shield on his right arm is also visible, clearly depicting the gold Sheriff Star with two swooping lines, one from the leftmost point to the rightmost, and another from the two points on bottom. It is laid over the colors of the Texas flag depicted with a blue vertical bar on left with white 5-point star, and followed by two horizontal bars of white and red. Beneath in red embroidery over brown is “ERATH COUNTY” and “EST. 1836” The patch is bordered in gold. Three gold chevron stripes on a separate patch sits beneath the first patch, it is oriented with the points going up. We zoom out to see Daily sitting at his brown faux wood desk looking at something on his computer and reaching for something. It is slightly cluttered with a large computer monitor in the center, several cups of pens and permanent markers, a filing rack with paper, tape dispenser, stapler, a pill box, a half-full styrofoam coffee cup, a styrofoam take out cold drink container, a nearly empty paper towel roll, and hand sanitizer. On the wall behind him is a royal blue flag with yellow writing that is indistinct. The brown door to the office, is seen on the right. Walls are grey and appear to be moveable.

 

Video returns to the first scene where Daily signs. He continues:

 

Over the past 20 years in law enforcement, I have worked patrol, in the jail, done a little bit of investigation and SWAT. I haven’t worked K-9, but I want to!

 

My struggles were not related to the public. Dealing with the public wasn’t a problem. It was working with my partners that was difficult. I had to deal with their biases and their doubts that I could do the job or that they could even trust me. So I had to work twice as hard to build trust among my partners.”

 

The video pans across a paneled wood wall with several items tacked with yellow thumbtacks. From left to right: slightly cut off is an image of a shield on paper or as a sticker depicted in grey scale, words are cut off but we see “ORER” “ORCEMENT” “ORING” and “COUNTY” as well as “1856”. Top banner is dark followed by a white stripe, a light grey, and dark grey again with a crest in a dark circle in the center, a wing and sword is visible. Next is a tiny Captain America action figure encased in plastic. He is holding up his white star and red and white striped round shield. Next is a laminated newspaper clipping showing a picture of possibly Daily as one of two men with light skin sitting at the head of a classroom. One, in a dark shirt and khakis, stand at a podium and speaks. The other in a white button up and dark pants stand slightly forward and looks back anthem. Two women sit at a long table behind an empty table and look towards them. A white board is along the wall. The clipping is titled “New program prepares young adults for career in law enforcement”. The body of text and photo caption (in bold) is too small to read clearly. A blue strip with a small barcode in the middle goes across the bottom.

 

Next, a close up of the previous newspaper clipping as the camera pans across the title. Under the title: “By Sara Vanden Berge” with “[email protected]” in italics underneath. The body of text reads: “The Erath County Sheriff’s Office is kicking off a new program designed to prepare young adults for a career in law enforcement. An open house introducing the public to the Earth County Law Enforcement Explorer Program took place at the sheriff’s office on Tuesday.”. The rest is cut off. More text in the next column: “… learn every aspect of law enforcement,” said Deputy Scott Daily who heads up the effort. “It’s kind of like a pre-academy setting, preparing them for the real academy.” Sheriff Matt Coates said the group will meet every other Tuesday evening. The cost to participate is free, but they will be having some fundraisers. “They will learn about patrol procedures, crime scene investigations and other things we do on a regular basis,” Coates said.”. The rest is cut off. Caption under photo reads “AUTUMN OWENS/E-T”.

 

We return to Daily signing again in the first setting of the video. He continues:

 

“In that class, I teach deaf culture, the deaf way of life, how to sign the alphabet and numbers and everything. When the police officers leave class, they have a different perspective on how to handle and work with someone who is different.”

 

Video transitions to a slow motion of Daily walking around the back of a police SUV cruiser towards the driver’s side. Now we can see he is wearing dark brown pants and has walkie talkies and a black and white piece of equipment on a belt. The cruiser is white with writing along the side “ERIFF” and “COUNTY” and a black and gold swoop design. The parking lot is wet as if it just rained. Across the street, a white pole barn style building outlined in red has “SECURITY STORAGE” on a sign on the side and two green recycling bins. Other buildings are seen in the background.

 

We come back to Daily in the first setting as he continues to sign:

 

“You have to stand up, believe, fight in order to be successful and be happy.”

 

We come back to the police cruiser again. This time, Daily is in the driver’s seat and lights are blinking along the bottom of the vehicle. The writing is clear now on the side of the car. In black outlined white letter: “SHERIFF” preceded by the same Sheriff’s star described on Daily’s patch earlier. Underneath in smaller black letters: “ERATH COUNTY”. The gold and black swoop design continues behind the lettering towards the front. Back windows are tinted dark. The teal #deafsuccess banner fades into the center of screen as Daily drives off and we see more white SUVs, pick up trucks, and cars parked along one side of a building.

 

The clip fades to white with the #deafsuccess banner remaining. The banner fades out. An animation of the NDC logo forming plays. It moves up to reveal “National Deaf Center” in larger letters and “on Postsecondary Outcomes” in smaller letters underneath. The logo moves to the right, separated by a vertical teal line, more small text appears reading: “This video was developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, OSEP #HD326D160001. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.” Underneath, three logos appear. The first reads “IDEAs that Work” with an arrow drawing a circle from “IDEAs” to “Work” and the words “U.S. Office of Special Education Programs”. The second logo shows a red-and-blue star with text next to it that reads “TA&D”. The third logo shows a blue circle around a tree. In the blue circle are the words “U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.” End description]