North Carolina Deputy Teaches Officers About Autism

Today I read something that gives me hope. In the Mooresville Tribune, there was an article about an extraordinary police officer who decided to fight back; I suppose you could say, for the cause of Autism Awareness.

There are far too many police officers or officers of the court, who know nothing about Autism. While some officers have a basic knowledge of the condition, do they really know how to cope with a suspect or a victim who suffers from ASD? Probably not; this is where County Sheriff's Deputy Tim Byrd comes in.

Like my husband, Byrd married a woman who had a child with Autism. Byrd's wife, Kim Taylor, is a retired Superior Court judge and has helped to advocate more training for many professional in dealing with all types of disabilities, including Autism. For his work, Byrd was recognized for his efforts with the Third Annual Sidney Templeton Award. This award is given in honor of an Autistic man who died in police custody.

To me, this is one of the reasons that officers like Byrd are so important. He could see a flaw in the system, and went about finding a way to fix the problem. He spent countless hours volunteering and trained parents and law enforcement agencies about Autism and safety within every community he worked with. He even took it a step further and filmed a video that will be used in future training by law enforcement. I am actually thinking about approaching our local Police Department about getting a copy of this video, once released, so that they can get additional training.

My son is not the only child in this community with Autism, and it would give me comfort to know that, if by some crazy chance, our local officers encounter him, they would recognize the signs of his disability and would know what to do. There are just too many things that can go wrong during an encounter with law enforcement, and I would like to see every officer in this country have some knowledge of mental disabilities so that no one with a disability is put at risk unnecessarily. Knowledge is power, and the more officers know, the better off everyone would be.

Here's a thought; perhaps every police academy in this country could offer an overview of mental disabilities, with signs and symptoms, so that when identified, officers can then call for appropriate backup. For instance, if a suspect is identified as having Autism, a psychiatrist can be brought in, or a specialist who has dealings with those on the Spectrum can be brought in to assist with the standard procedures that would apply to being contained by law enforcement. It can be very frightening and confusing for someone with a disability to be arrested, so having a way to minimize the trauma isn't completing out of line. I am not saying that "coddling" is necessary, just caution. Why make a difficult situation worse, when a bit of intervention could be highly beneficial?

I think that this officer has done a great thing, and deserves this award. I hope other law enforcement personnel follow his lead.

To read the entire article: http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2009/jul/14/deputy-teaches-officers-about-autism/news/