Aspies For Freedom

A bill that would require police officers and prosecutors throughout the state to learn how to deal with people with disabilities, including autism, is one step closer to reality.

Friday John Rogers, the director the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, signed on to the proposal. If passed, he says the first class of police recruits would undergo the special training at the academy this August.

In 2008, all 35 hundred police officers would be required to undergo a two hour training. Academy officials plan to work with Matt Brown, a federal probation officer, on developing the training program. Brown has an autistic son. For the past two years he has trained hundreds of police officers on how to properly deal with an autistic person.

"The nature of autism is such the way that they behave in a stressful situation can cause harm to them and police, so it's critical that they know and numbers," said Brown. "It's the fastest growing disability in Maine. If you do the math. It's a miracle we haven't had a death. What we want to do is prevent it," Brown said.

The legislature is expected to vote on the proposal in the next few months.

Originated on wcsh6.com

I think this is basically a good idea, though I wonder if two hours training amongst all the other things police officers have to learn will make much difference.

I wonder why they need an actual law to be passed for police officers to be taught about autism.

In the Metropolitan Police, "The Curious Incident etc " is on the police training reccomended reading list, and whatever its short-comings, the story does show how an innocent lad with AS could get snarled up in the criminal justice system without ever having intended to commit a crime, or harm others.