Autism training for law enforcement aims to prevent tragic outcomes

Kate Movius moved among a roomful of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, handing out a pop quiz and paper prism glasses.

She told them to put on glasses that distorted vision and to write with their non-dominant hand. As they completed the tests, Movius moved around the City of Industry classroom, banging sharply on the tables. Then came the doorbell. An assistant randomly turned the overhead lights on and off. The aim was to help MPs understand the feeling of sensory overwhelm that many autistic people experience when the stimulation they receive exceeds their ability to process.

“So what can you do to help someone, or defuse someone, or get information from someone who has a sensory disorder?” Movius then asked the shaken crowd. “We can minimize sensory input. … That could be the difference between their ability to stay calm and them taking off.”

Movius, founder of the consulting firm Autism Interaction Solutions, is among a growing number of people in the United States working to teach law enforcement to recognize autistic behaviors and ensure that encounters between people with neurodevelopmental disabilities and law enforcement end safely.

She and Industry City Mayor Cory Moss then handed out bags filled with city-donated tools to facilitate interactions: a pair of noise-canceling headphones to reduce auditory input, a whiteboard, a set of communication cards with words and pictures to point to, fidget toys to calm and distract.

“The problem with autistic behavior when it comes to law enforcement is that a lot of it can seem suspicious, and a lot of it can seem very disrespectful,” said Movius, who is also the parent of a 25-year-old autistic man. Officers who respond, she said, “don’t come in thinking, ‘Could this be a person with a developmental disability?’ » I would love for them to have that in mind. »

A sheriff’s deputy reads a brochure about autism during the training program.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental condition that manifests itself differently in almost everyone who has it. Symptoms cluster around difficulties with communication, social interaction and sensory processing.

An autistic person arrested by the police might hold the officer’s gaze intensely or not look at them at all. They may repeat a line from a movie, repeat the officer’s question, or temporarily lose the ability to speak. They could flee.

These are all common involuntary responses for an autistic person in a stressful situation, which is almost invariably the case with a sudden encounter with law enforcement. To someone unfamiliar with this illness, it could all be mistaken for drunkenness, defiance, or guilt.

Autism rates in the United States have increased almost fivefold since the Centers for Disease Control began tracking diagnoses in 2000, a rising expert attribute to expanding diagnostic criteria and better efforts to identify children with the disease.

THE The CDC now estimates that in the United States, 1 in 31 8-year-olds have autism. In California, the rate is closer to 1 in 22 children.

As diverse as the autistic population is, people across the spectrum are more likely to be stopped by law enforcement than their neurotypical peers.

In the United States, approximately 15% of Americans aged 18 to 24 have been stopped by the police at some point in their lives. according to federal data. Although the government does not specifically track meetings with people with disabilities, a study found that 20 percent of autistic people ages 21 to 25 have been arrested, often after a report or officer’s observation of someone exhibiting unusual behavior.

Some of these encounters ended in tragedy.

In 2021, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot and permanently paralyzed a deaf autistic man after his family members called 911 for help in taking him to the hospital.

Isaias Cervantes, 25, was upset after a shopping trip and began to push his mother, his family’s lawyer. said at the time. He resisted as two officers tried to handcuff him and one of them shot him, according to a county report.

In 2024, Ryan Gainer’s family called 911 for help when the 15-year-old became agitated. Responding San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputies shot and killed him in front of his Apple Valley home.

Last year, police in Pocatello, Idaho, shot and killed 17-year-old Victor Perez through a chain-link fence after the mute teen ignored their shouted commands. He died from his injuries in April.

Sheriff’s deputies take a quiz using their non-writing hands, while wearing vision-distorting glasses, while Kate Movius, standing left, and Industry Mayor Cory Moss, right, ring bells. The idea was to help them understand the sensory overload felt by some autistic people.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

As early as 2001, the FBI published a newsletter on the need for police officers to adjust their approach when interacting with autistic people.

“Officers should not interpret an autistic person’s inability to respond to commands or questions as a lack of cooperation or as a reason to increase force,” the bulletin states. “They must also recognize that autistic people often confess to crimes they did not commit or may answer the last choice in a sequence presented in a question.”

But one goodbye Several studies last year by researchers at Chapman University found that although up to 60 percent of officers responded to a call involving an autistic person, only 5 to 40 percent of them had received autism training.

In response, universities, nonprofit organizations and private consultants across the United States have developed curricula for law enforcement on how to recognize autistic behaviors and adapt accordingly.

The main goal, Movius told MPs during the November training session, is to slow down interactions as much as possible. Many autistic people need more time to process auditory cues and verbal responses, especially in unusual circumstances.

If possible, Movius said, wait 20 seconds for a response after asking a question. That might seem unusually long, she acknowledged. But every additional question or instruction thrown during that time — what is your name? Did you hear me? Look at me. What is your name? – simply decreases the likelihood that a person who is having difficulty processing will be able to respond.

Moss’ son Brayden, then 17, was one of several teenagers and young adults with autism who spoke or wrote statements to read to deputies. The diversity of their speech patterns and physical mannerisms showed the breadth of the spectrum. Some spoke fluently, while others communicated using signs and notes.

“This population is so diverse. It’s so complicated. But if there’s anything we can show [deputies] here it will make them stop and think, “Hey, what if it’s autism?” …it saves lives,” Moss said.

Mayor Cory Moss, left, and Kate Movius kiss at the end of the training program last November. Movius launched Autism Interaction Solutions after his son was born with profound autism.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Some disability advocates have warned that it takes more than isolated training sessions to ensure encounters end safely.

Judy Mark, co-founder and president of the nonprofit Disability Voices United, says she trained thousands of officers on safe interactions with autism but stopped after the Cervantes shooting. She is now urging families concerned about the safety of an autistic child to call an ambulance rather than law enforcement.

“I’m very concerned about these training sessions,” Mark said. “People find comfort in it and the sheriff’s department can check the box.”

Although it is not a panacea, its proponents say that a short course is better than no preparation at all. A few years ago, Movius received a letter from a man whose profoundly autistic son had run away while the family was loading their car at the beach. He opened the unlocked door of a police vehicle, climbed into the back and began struggling in distress.

Although surprised, the police officer sitting at the wheel calmed the situation and helped the young man find his family, the father wrote to Movius. He had just attended her training.