Deputy sheriffs and professional staff go through a virtual reality interactive training on navigating interactions with individuals who may have autism spectrum disorder.
All deputies and frontline professional staff of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office will receive comprehensive training on autism spectrum disorder to raise awareness and prevent harmful outcomes.
The interactive training is led by Dr. Lauren Gardner, a children’s psychologist and director of the Autism Program at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. It’s designed to increase knowledge of autism and provide deescalation tactics through lifelike scenarios to provide ways to better interact with individuals with autism both in crisis and non-escalated situations.
Christina Corpus
Sheriff Christina Corpus said she wanted to implement this training program when she was a captain and made it a prioritized point during her campaign for the sheriff position.
“The growing numbers of kids in our communities or people in our communities that have autism, are on the spectrum, was really the driving force for me,” Corpus said. “We want to have better outcomes and we want to always find ways to serve our community members with compassion, with dignity and respect.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 36 children are identified with ASD, an increase from the one in 44 estimated in 2021.
In addition to sheer numbers, Corpus said after witnessing negative interactions across the country involving law enforcement and those on the spectrum, she felt it was necessary to require this training of her staff. Without knowledge and awareness of ASD, she said law enforcement can mistake certain behaviors as a threat.
“There are videos out there where you see an officer going hands on with a 16-year-old kid and it wasn’t that the child was trying to be deceptive or trying to not follow command, but because the child communicated differently and was fearful,” Corpus said.
While Gardner affirms that the varying ways in which autism can present itself in each individual makes it hard to prepare for all possible scenarios, she said her training aims to share certain patterns to help “make a picture become clearer.”
Beyond a desire to deescalate interactions between law enforcement and those with autism, Gardner said there’s a responsibility placed on officers and other first responders to care for those with autism in their community.
Since 2000, autism has become increasingly diagnosed but it is far more common for resources to be readily available for children, leaving adults on the spectrum often struggling and more likely to find themselves in situations demanding law enforcement presence.
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“Given that there’s not a ton of resources for these individuals … really that does fall to law enforcement, health care providers,” Gardner said. “We’re really tasked with having a good understanding of this to begin with, and hopefully society as a whole catches up, but first responders and health care providers are going to be that frontline to begin with.”
Corpus agrees that it’s a responsibility for law enforcement to have a deep understanding of neurodiversity and consider different approaches to communication and interacting with those in the community.
To address the varying ways autism may present itself, Corpus also initiated Project Guardian through the Sheriff’s Office to complement this training. The voluntary self-identification registry for those with autism or special needs helps law enforcement interact effectively on a call. Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office will be implementing sensory kits in every patrol vehicle that include flashcards for individuals who might be nonverbal, and sensory balls to be used as a calming mechanism.
“When somebody is on the spectrum, it’s not cookie-cutter so there’s different tools in that little box that will help us with those circumstances,” Corpus said.
Though the training is specific to recognizing presentations of ASD, Corpus and Gardner both agreed these practices will help all interactions with community members as law enforcement aims to avoid harmful outcomes.
“This is understanding more neurodiversity in a different way, and so it benefits all of us within our society and within our first responders to have a good understanding of how we can best meet needs,” Gardner said.
The first phase of training is happening throughout this week, and the second phase will be conducted in June. At the end of the second phase, all deputies and frontline professional staff will have gone through the program and have a comprehensive understanding of ASD.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever worked with another department where we’re training 500 people,” Gardner said. “It shows their commitment to this community and to support neurodiversity and all of their citizens really to make sure that everyone feels safe and comfortable and supported by the Sheriff’s [Office].”
Thank you Sheriff Corpus. I admire the work you are doing to protect and serve the community! (Next up--Let's follow the example of other communities and get a Sheriff Oversight program underway :-))
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Thank you Sheriff Corpus. I admire the work you are doing to protect and serve the community! (Next up--Let's follow the example of other communities and get a Sheriff Oversight program underway :-))
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.