The Morgan Hill Police Department partnered with the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards to provide autism awareness training to their officers. IBCCES is a recognized organization focused on cognitive disorder training and certification for professionals around the globe.

In February 2021, officers completed a training course focused on understanding and reacting better to behaviors autistic individuals may portray. The autism awareness training is in conjunction with the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), which officers receive in their first year of being on the job. IBCCES training topics included communication, delayed response, specific verbal and non-verbal signs, sensory overload, and de-escalation techniques.

 

“Given the vast diversity of our community, having an enhanced framework and specific strategies to meet the needs of autistic individuals. The training provides officers with new resources to respond with understanding and the ability to de-escalate tense situations,” said Sergeant Bill Norman of Morgan Hill Police Department. “Recognizing specific areas of training to enhance our officers’ understanding of autism will help build trust and legitimacy with our community. The Morgan Hill Police Department believes training, education, understanding, and accountability will allow officers to be more inclusive of the broader community we serve.”

“IBCCES is excited to work with The Morgan Hill Police Department to help their officers better understand and communicate with autistic individuals and provide officers new strategies to respond to a variety of situations,” said Myron Pincomb, IBCCES Board Chairman.

For more than 20 years, IBCCES has provided evidence-based training and certification programs created in conjunction with clinical experts and autistic individuals in order to provide professionals serving individuals with cognitive disorders a better understanding of what these disorders are, industry best practices, varied perspectives, and the latest research in these areas.