Puzzle Pieces
Law enforcement across Kentucky encounter nearly every segment of society. During a given shift, the men and women behind the badge interact with all walks of society, including citizens with special needs, such as autism.
“Autism is a complex, lifelong developmental disability that typically appears during early childhood and can impact a person’s social skills, communication, relationships, and self-regulation,” according to the Autism Society. “Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a ‘spectrum condition’ that affects people differently and to varying degrees.”
Autism awareness is crucial for officers, as an estimated 82,735 Kentuckians are autistic, according to the Kentucky Advisory Council on Autism (KYACA).
One police chief in central Kentucky has taken steps to help his department better serve the autistic community.
Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson came up with, or as he put it, “borrowed” the idea of creating an awareness sticker for residents who have autistic family members in their households. These stickers can be displayed on the window of the family’s vehicle or home to alert first responders to be sensitive to the individual’s special needs.
Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson (Photo by Michael Moore)
The reasoning behind it is simple, Richardson said. Those with autism may react with fear or confusion to sounds, lights and other stimuli, and often, the reactions can be misconstrued by law enforcement.
Traffic Stop
Richardson’s actions came on the heels of a traffic stop involving a young boy in the back seat of his father’s car.
“I pulled over a guy in front of the police department, and the little guy in the back seat was autistic, and the lights and siren triggered him,” Richardson recalled. “When I get up to the car, it was obvious something was going on, but I did not recognize it. It looked like a kid acting out in the back seat. The dad said, ‘Hey, if you turn your lights off, I think he’ll calm down.’ So, I walked back and turned the lights off, and it all worked out.”
The chief quickly realized that being better prepared for interacting with the state’s autistic community is a must for law enforcement officers.
“I had no idea what was going on,” Richardson admitted. “I didn’t have any idea what the (autism) spectrum was. I just knew autistic kids were different and I didn’t know how to treat them. In my professional capacity, I had never really dealt with it until that traffic stop.”
Right before the pandemic gripped Kentucky in March 2020, Richardson had spoken to parents of an autistic child, Mark and Stephanie Koenig, who wanted to bridge the gap between LaRue County law enforcement and the autistic community in the central Kentucky region. LaRue County has a population of 14,398, with an estimated 267 autistic residents, according to KYACA.
Stickers and Patches
In April 2021, the Hodgenville Police Department began posting to social media supporting Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Awareness Month.
Within days, Mark Koenig reached out to Richardson, informing him April was also Autism Awareness Month.
“I researched what we could do now to bring awareness,” Richardson said. “There was a sheriff’s office in Florida, and they had a shoulder patch made up with the autism puzzle incorporated in it.”
Being a small agency, the cost of shoulder patches would be high, but the price of a sticker, Richardson found, was much more palatable to the small department’s budget.
At $1 a sticker, Richardson initially purchased 20.
DID YOU KNOW…
1 in 54 people are autistic in the United States.
Source: Kentucky Advisory Council on Autism, www.kyaca.org
“I wasn’t sure how it would go, but they went like hotcakes (snapping his fingers),” he said. “We decided that we were not going to charge anybody for those, and we’d pay for them out of pocket. We do take donations. We’ve had overwhelming support from our community, and we’ve gone through two or three batches of stickers.”
Richardson said the goal of the sticker was a simple, inexpensive way to give a responding officer a heads up.
“We passed them out to the public, who put them on their cars and front doors, so if an officer came around, they’d know there could someone in the vehicle or home who has autism,” he said.
About 15 miles northwest of the Hodgenville Police Department, the Elizabethtown Police Department (EPD) is also bringing awareness to autism, thanks to EPD Officer Larry Robinson, who designed a patch with an autism puzzle surrounding the tree inside.
A school resource officer at Central Hardin High School, Robinson is investing in the lives of many special-needs students in the community, having started the Bruins Against Destructive Decisions (B.A.D.D.) Club at the school.
When April rolled around, Robinson wanted to promote Autism Awareness Month and Camp TESSA (Teaching Effective Social Skills to Individuals with Autism), which is designed to help the autistic community of Hardin and surrounding counties.
Hardin County has a population of 110,958, with an estimated 2,055 autistic residents, according to KYACA.
“The club is where it really started,” Robinson said.
Once Robinson had finished with the patch’s design, he sent it to a company that could produce it.
Elizabethtown Police Department Officer Larry Robinson (Photo by Michael Moore)
“I figured it would be a couple of weeks before I heard back,” he said. “But the guy called me that afternoon. It turns out that his son is autistic, and he loved the idea. He had it printed off the next day and ready for me to order.”
Robinson purchased 400 patches to sell at $10 each, with 100 percent of the proceeds going toward Camp TESSA. Robinson, who also serves as one of his agency’s chaplains, raised a little over $400 in the first month and a half.
The response from fellow officers and others in the community was fantastic, as it benefited a great camp and brought awareness to autism at the same time.
“I had a lot of officers who wanted to buy one because of a family member,” he said. “I think it opened the conversation. Everyone knows somebody, a family member or friend with autism.”
Beyond the Sticker
While a sticker on a front door or car window would let the officer know they may be dealing with someone who is autistic, it did little in terms of preparing them for how to interact with someone with autism.
“The more I started researching, I realized that there is an issue, and it needs to be addressed (through training),” Richardson explained. “I think it’s one of those conversations few people have had.”
To that end, Richardson has plans to bring in medical professionals to talk with his officers about their role in working within the special needs community. In addition, he plans to invite parents of autistic children to come in and talk with his officers, as well.
DID YOU KNOW…
In 2019, Kentucky’s estimated population was 4,467,673. Kentucky’s estimated Autistic population in 2019 was 82,735.
Source: Kentucky Advisory Council on Autism, www.kyaca.org
DOCJT Training
The Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT) offers several mental health and disability-related courses, beginning at the basic recruit level.
“During the Effective Communications class, the topic of interacting with special needs people is discussed,” DOCJT Section Supervisor Andy Wilson said. “Another course focused on interacting with special-needs citizens is Response to Individuals in Crisis, a four-hour class.”
In addition to basic training-level instruction, DOCJT offers in-service courses covering the topic, including School Resource Officer (SRO) I and II, Contemporary Policing in the 21st Century (CP21st) and Law Enforcement Response to Special Needs Persons.
Taught twice a year (spring and fall), Law Enforcement Response to Special Needs Persons is a 40-hour in-service class that covers topics such as working with those on the autism spectrum, deaf and hard of hearing individuals, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic/acquired brain injury, substance abuse, suicide prevention and suicide by cop.
Interaction Tips
With eight chapters in Kentucky, The Arc of Kentucky (The Arc), is the largest national community-based organization advocating for and with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and serving them and their families. Together with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, The Arc provided this law enforcement face sheet to help officers learn about interacting with individuals with autism.
There are many signs a person might have autism. Those include:
May not be able to maintain eye contact
May have sensory issues, including sensitivity to loud noises, bright lights, strong smells, and touch
May engage in calming behaviors (also referred to as stemming) like hand flapping or rocking
Processing delays with difficulty following verbal commands or reading body language
Attempts to run or move away from confrontation
When communicating with autistic people, the ARC fact sheet offers these recommendations to law enforcement:
Do not mistake echolalia – repeating what you say – as rude behavior. It is a typical display of autistic behavior
Give ample time for a response to instruction or questions
Do not interrupt self-calming mechanism behaviors like rocking back and forth, flicking fingers, humming, or buzzing, etc.
Be prepared for a wide range of assistive communication devices, sign language or writing
Consider using fixation on a topic or object to help you interact or divert challenging behavior
Avoid physical contact whenever possible
Look for signs that the person is unable to fully understand what happened to them when it comes to describing abuse or understanding that their actions were criminal.
Community Service
Robinson and Richardson said that bringing awareness to autism is critically important for both law enforcement and the community.
“This is a great example of thinking outside of the box in terms of helping our community,” Robinson said. “We’re not just thinking about pulling people over; we are also thinking about the good of our community.”
Ultimately, bringing awareness to autism among his officers and finding ways to help them do their jobs better should they come across an autistic person, is a humanitarian goal, Richardson stressed.
“You can’t tackle a problem unless you know the problem,” he surmised. “We want to know what autism is like and how to deal with folks. If we don’t, we could traumatize these citizens, and we don’t want to do that.”
