SALINA, Kan. (AP) - Salina-area law enforcement recently underwent special training to help them interact with people with disabilities.
Four training sessions on disability response were held this month for Salina and Saline County law enforcement officers, the Salina Journal (https://j.mp/2gKljXN) reported.
Sheila Mortimer, special education coordinator for Central Kansas Cooperative in Education, said the training was prompted by tragic encounters between law enforcement and people with mental and physical disabilities in Kansas and across the nation.
“The first encounter with a law enforcement officer will leave a lifelong impression - for good or bad,” she said. “Your job at the end of the day is to go home to your family, but I just want you to think in the back of your head when you encounter someone there might be more going on.”
Recent incidents highlighting the need for such training include a deaf woman in Shawnee County who filed a lawsuit after she was wrongly arrested and taken to a psychiatric hospital by officers who thought her attempts at sign language were signs of mental illness. Another incident involved a 36-year-old Hays man with autism who was fatally shot by a police officer in August after he led the officer on a traffic pursuit failed to follow commands and tried to grab the officer’s handgun.
Deputy Travis Henry, who was among about 30 officers at one of the two-hour training sessions. He has a child with autism and said the information in the class could protect people whose disabilities prevent them from responding in expected ways.
“We’re all different and have different backgrounds and do this job differently,” Henry said. “Some people don’t have the patience.”
The goal of the training is to be proactive in preparing emergency responders to recognize characteristics of people with autism spectrum disorders and other disabilities and learn effective ways to interact with them, Steve Rivers, Salina community relations division supervisor, told the newspaper.
Henry said he carries stickers and stuffed animals in his patrol vehicle to help calm children or people with special needs who he may encounter. He said he’s given rides home more than once to an autistic teen who sometimes leaves home and tries to catch a ride along an interstate highway.
“When I deal with him, I take the extra time,” Henry said. “I understand the dynamic.”.
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Information from: The Salina (Kan.) Journal, https://www.salina.com
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