Law Enforcement Training to Caregivers of Special Needs Clients

Kudos to Texas for taking the initiative to recognize the unique needs of citizens with developmental disabilities and for taking action to meet those needs!

Read about the Texas Tech training program in the story below that I copied from the Avalanche Journal.

Staying safe may be harder for disabled
Special considerations need to be made when crisis situations arise involving people with developmental disabilities to keep those individuals from becoming victims or to avert scenarios where the situation may turn even more harmful or even deadly.
Posted: June 14, 2011 - 10:44pm | Updated: June 14, 2011 - 11:03pm

Sergeant Eric Williams, of the Texas Tech Police Department, discusses the interaction between autistic individuals and law enforcement at High Point Village in Lubbock, Texas Tuesday, June14, 2011.
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By KIM LEHMAN
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Special considerations need to be made when crisis situations arise involving people with developmental disabilities to keep those individuals from becoming victims or to avert scenarios where the situation may turn even more harmful or even deadly.

That was the message Texas Tech Police Department officers presented Tuesday evening at High Point Village, 10911 Slide Road, to a group of caregivers of special needs people, and of critical importance as they pointed out people with developmental disabilities are seven times more likely to encounter law enforcement scenarios.

High Point Village is a faith-based organization providing motivational, educational and vocational activities for special needs people and their caregivers.

Sgt. Eric Williams with the Texas Tech Police Department and Officer John Poirier described the measures taken to educate officers and other responders
on learning to recognize and deal with special needs individuals.

The also presented information on how caregivers can assist first responders, such as police and firefighters, to quickly identify someone with special needs to avoid conflicts that may arise because of the person's disability.

Williams and Poirier focused on what they say is an underexposed area of concern - dealing with an active shooter situation, where an armed person enters a place and is intent on mass murder, and the scenario involves individuals in a group situation such as a home for the developmentally disabled.

Williams said the statewide initiative, Crisis Intervention Training, is mandatory for all officers to train them on how to recognize an individual with special needs and take the appropriate action in those cases.

They explained how individuals with special needs, particularly autism, may react with what others perceive as an inappropriate response to law enforcement or other first responders in some of these cases.

"Some of these individuals with autism have been injured or even killed in these circumstances," Williams said.

Some examples include a child with autism killed in a police shooting at a group home in Texas or another young boy with autism, who suffocated in Florida after he was restrained by officers.

Officers have learned to recognize these individuals may not make eye contact, may make repetitive movements, not be able to provide identification when asked and may not be able to speak or use sign language.

These officers have learned alternative practices for dealing appropriately in these situations.

Officers Williams and Poirier discussed the importance of parents and caregiver education and said caregivers can help special needs individuals learn to react calmer to crisis situations by explaining pictures of firemen and police officers, teaching them to dial 9-1-1, inviting local police to community events to interact, and contacting their local police departments to help identify their special needs family members.

Caregivers were also encouraged to use identification programs, such as medical bracelets and state-issued ID cards through their local Department of Motor Vehicles or sew labels containing vital information into the person's clothing.

Another focus of the evening was training caregivers on responding in an active shooter situation.

"A special needs child will be completely overwhelmed, emotionally, physically and psychologically, and it is up to you, as a caregiver to help them so they will not become a victim," Williams said. "You, as a caregiver must act with violent determination to save these kids. When I say violent determination, I mean you must fight like you never have before."

He explained you must get out, hide out or take out the shooter.

If you cannot get out, then try to hide somewhere like an office or classroom, barricade the door with as many heavy items as possible and extinguish all lights and any other devices, like cell phones.

Only when you have reached safety or are hiding, call 9-1-1.

The last line of defense, Williams said, is to take out the shooter.

"Fight like your kids' lives depend on it, because they do," he said.

Williams told the group he did not want to scare anyone make them aware of the need to be prepared in such situations.

"We prepare our kids with fire drills and tornadoes and other things, we must also prepare them for an active shooter situation by using drills as well," he said.

Other tips were to have first aid training and a high quality first aid kit.

Doug Morris, executive director at High Point Village, said the meeting was designed to teach people in the special needs community to avoid being afraid of law enforcement and to show caregivers and parents how to defuse a volatile situation.

James Aldridge, president of the board of directors for High Point Village, said "Parents don't always know how to teach their children how to react to first responders, and we need to give that to them to help prepare them before a crisis situation happens."

To comment on this story:

kim.lehman@lubbockonline.com • 766-2155

shelly.gonzales@lubbockonline.com • 766-8747

Other tips

■ Download an emergency contact form from www.autismriskmanagement.com and fill it out and put it in your child's backpack, or tape it on your booster seat and distribute it to family and friends.

■ Register with Project Lifesaver at www.projectlifesaver.org for immediate GPS assistance with lost individuals.

■ Obtain a state-issued ID from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles at www.dmv.org.

Comment

Are Law Enforcement Officers Trained to Respond to Citizens with ASD?

I am curious about what resources are provided to those people who work in our community to respond to emergencies. Do they know the best ways to help our "special" citizens, or might they accidentally make things worse because of lack of training or knowledge?

I am trying to find out the answers to these questions. I always find the internet to be one good source of information and an easy place to begin finding answers.

Here is one article about some local programs:
Copy and paste this URL to read about some Maryland and Virginia counties in the D.C. area:
http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/law-enforcement-training-for-autism-related1/

Here is a link to information about training for first responders:
Copy and paste this URL to read about this training program :
http://www.leanonus.org/trainings.html

This link is about a conference in North Carolina that was held for state law enforcement after a man with autism died while in police custody.
Copy and paste this link to read about it.
http://asa.confex.com/asa/2006/techprogram/S2232.HTM

This newsweek article relates several specific instances of misunderstandings that have happened when law enforcement came into contact with autistic individuals and explains how organizations and concerned citizens are trying to provide better information to officers through training.
Copy and paste this link to read more about it:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/08/is-sitting-while-autistic-a-crime.html

This link is to the Autism Society and is about pamphlets that they offer to assist first reponders and law enforcement.
Copy and paste this URL to see this information:
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_safeandsound_firstresponders

So, from my internet search, I am still not clear on what, if any, training has been provided to Maryland state officers, Montgomery county officers, or the city forces of Germantown or Gaithersburg where we would be mostly like to encounter the police. Looks like more research is needed. At least I now know that some of our country's jurisdictions are addressing this issue.

If you know more about this topic, please add your comments.

Postscript: I learned from Craig Schultz of the Autism Socieity of America, that trainings to Montgomery County, MD and Rockville, Md police have been provided by the ASA. Also, Maryland State police have had training in general mental health issues, but not specifically ASD's or developmental disabilities, but that training could be considered in the future.