It’s complicated. Those familiar with police work might cringe when they see the immediate outrage whenever police are involved in a violent confrontation, such as the recent high-profile police actions during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tenn., that led to the death of Tyre Nichols.
Yes, there are some bad cops out there, and law enforcement officials must do what they can to remove or retrain them rather than defend them. Most officers try to serve their communities to the best of their abilities. Even they, however, can at times become involved in confrontations that arise from misunderstandings or misinterpretations of a person’s behavior.
Efforts to better train officers to recognize and deal with people with special needs could help them avoid or mitigate aggression that could prove deadly. Autism risk and safety training held last week involving the Brownsville Police Department, Driscoll Health Plan and Bebo’s Angels is the kind of training that can help officers identify behaviors and tendencies linked to conditions such as autism before they erroneously decide to use force against a person.
Other law enforcement agencies should consider this and other opportunities to help their officers make better decisions, in hopes that they can they can reduce confrontations and the use of unnecessary or unreasonable force.
During the training, officers watched a video and received printed material on how to deal with people who have autism that can better ensure the safety of both the person and the officer.
“The training goal is to educate and train members of the community and professionals who assist in times of need. Understanding an individual on the autism spectrum will make a difficult situation easier to handle,” Driscoll stated in a news release announcing the training session that included Bebo’s Angels, an organization that supports people with autism spectrum disorder and their families.
Autism is only one condition that could be misread. Brownsville police dealt with such an issue several years ago when they fatally shot a man who later was reported to have mental health issues and couldn’t understand officers’ commands.
Officers who took the autism training told our reporter Laura B. Martinez that they frequently deal with people who have autism, many times responding to calls from people who consider their actions suspicious.
The very nature of law enforcers’ job places them in contact with people who could be real criminals or people with medical conditions, and the wrong evaluation — which often must be made in an instant — could prove tragic. Any effort to better enabled officers to know the signs and deal with them properly is worth pursuing.
One bad read could destroy the life of an innocent person whom police treat improperly, an otherwise good cop who reacted improperly, and an entire community that erupts in anger without knowing the complexities of an altercation. Law enforcement agencies and medical experts should strive to work together to help officers make the best decisions possible.
We hope more of this kind of life-saving training is made available in the future.
