Tarleton State University’s Deaf Officer
GOOD MORNING TEXAS
Meet Tarleton State University’s Deaf Officer
Dawn Hensley, WFAA
March 29, 2017
The sounds of spring fill Tarleton State University, but not everyone can hear it. Inside this campus police department, things are a little different for one officer.
“I’m different because I can’t hear. I’m the same because I can do what you’re doing. Sometimes you just have to find a different way of doing it,” said Officer Scott Daily.
Officer Scott Daily was born two months premature, and had to undergo three blood transfusions. Doctors believe that may have led to his hearing loss. But his mother taught him early on, he’s really no different than anyone else.
“My mom, she was the motivator. She was always pushing me to the best I can be. And ‘don’t let anything stop you from doing what you want’,” Daily said. “I love challenges. I love people saying ‘you can’t do that.’ And it just makes me that much more motivated to show them I can do it. It’s been ‘Well, you can’t play football’. Well, I went in the 5th grade and I played football. And I made it all the way to college football.”
After college football, baseball and some rodeo, with the help of hearing aids daily decided to follow his father into law enforcement. His father, who had his own obstacles.
“My father was working for Santa Fe Railroad at the time of the accident, and he was run over by a train in 1970. My father was my inspiration,” said Daily. “He was the Chief of Police in Newton, Kansas and did it all 43 years in a wheelchair.”
So, Daily knew he could do it too.
“There are three things I learned in life that I still do. One: be determined. Two: dedicated. Three: committed. Those are the three things I live by. If the glass is half empty, fill it up,” Daily said.
Now, he spends his days patrolling this sprawling campus talking with students and faculty, but Officer Daily doesn’t stop there. He also helps with the American Sign Language Club at the university. It not only helps the five deaf students on campus, but helps him keeps him fluent in sign language.
“I really think he views it as a strength; just like someone who’s bilingual. Well, he is bilingual; he can sign. So it’s a strength to him and us,” said Tarleton State University Police Chief Matt Welch.
“Learn to work with people who are different than you,” Daily said. “I think that’s my strength. I can empathize and work with people of different cultures and disabilities better than some because I’ve been through that. And that’s my reward when they say, ‘Hey, thanks,”
Off-campus, Officer Daily is married with two sons.
“Both kids were born normal. One is 26, and one’s 16 about to be 17. And they both rodeo, and live normal lives too,” Daily said.
It’s the ones closest to him, who keep him motivated to inspire others.
“I remind myself I am blessed to be where I am now, doing what I’m doing. With the support of my family, my friends, and God… if I didn’t have the lord in my life, I wouldn’t be doing what I am today,” said Daily. “There’s a lot of things that’s happened in my life that its impossible to say there is no God.”
Along with his faith, he lives by three simple letters: FFC. Always be fair, always be firm, and always be consistent.
“There as a lot of things people said I couldn’t do and I just turned around and showed them. I did everything I wanted to do other than three things before I pass away,” Daily said. “The biggest is to become an actor in an action-packed comedy movie. Once I’ve done that I’ve pretty much done everything.”
And as for the other two, he says we will have to wait to find out…
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