Autistic people commonly come in contact with law enforcement and first responders for a number of reasons and are five times more likely to be incarcerated than the general population according to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Autism Prevalence is Rising Along with Incidents with Police
There are more than 2.1 million people in the United States who are diagnosed with autism, “a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication”.
Autism is a uniquely individual disorder that impacts each person differently because it operates on a spectrum. Some individuals with autism may have other co-occurring disorders, physical or mental cognitive impacts, along with common sensory needs or communication differences.
Common Autistic Behaviors That Can Lead to Frequent Police Run-ins
Some of the most common reasons autistic people will be questioned or forced to interact with police officers are stimming, wandering or elopement, and meltdowns.
How Common is Elopement? (Very)
Elopement is often dangerous for the person with autism due to their inability to perceive certain threats properly in their environment.
In a study that conducted a survey of parents of 1218 children with ASD:
- 49 percent of respondents said their child had attempted to elope at least once by age 4
- 26 percent were missing long enough to cause concern
- 24 percent were in danger of drowning and 65 percent were in danger of traffic injury
- Elopement became more common in individuals with more severe autism
Meltdowns Can Lead to Escalations Where Police Become Involved
Luanne Haygood, who’s son is on the autism spectrum and was 11 years old when he was charged with 5 felonies, said,
“There’s so many 7- to 12-year-old boys with autism that are getting arrested for meltdowns and behavior that can be avoided of the schools know how to react.”
The Importance of Autism Training for Law Enforcement
This is not a unique problem to Kentucky, as Steve Silberman states when referring to programs to train officers about autism:
“The scarcity of these programs is a sad legacy of the decades when autism was mistakenly believed to be a rare condition, and many autistic people lived out their lives in state-run institutions.”
This lack of training can often lead to officers mistaking behaviors of autism for other unrelated issues, causing them to potentially escalate situations when it is inappropriate and put people with autism at risk of unnecessary harm.
In a study meant to find how well emergency responders recognized signs of autism in a person in a simulated trauma setting, the study found:
- 27 percent provided reassurance to the individual with ASD
- 1 percent elicited information
- 11 percent asked bystanders for information or assistance
- 35 percent suggested a disability
- 13 percent considered ASSD specifically as a possibility
The conclusion of the study: “Few EMRs in this study optimally interacted with adolescents with ASD or recognized a disability. These findings suggest a strong need for targeted educational interventions.”
While EMRs are not the same as law enforcement, these types of studies are unfortunately quite rare and we were not able to locate any similar studies for law enforcement. While the numbers would undoubtedly be different for law enforcement (whether better or worse), the lack of understanding of how to approach and interact with people with autism effectively is increasingly coming to the forefront for both first responders and law enforcement alike.
“Now that we know that autism is common, and comes in all the hues and shades of a broad human spectrum, we need to give law enforcement officers the knowledge that they need to avoid turning a routine call into a life-altering calamity.”- Steve Silberman, author of “NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity.”
Autism training for law enforcement
