Here’s one instance where SLC police training on how to respond to people with autism paid off
KultureCity is part of a growing understanding of how the police can intervene safely
(Salt Lake City Police Department via YouTube) Salt Lake City Police Department hires a person with autism in Mach 2021. New police training is teaching law enforcement agencies to respond to people who are in a mental crisis.
It was just after midnight and a man was standing outside Salt Lake City Police Department asking officers to kill him.
“I’m going to see God tonight, brother. Let me smoke one last cigarette and listen to my song, ”he called out to the officers.
“Alright. You know me, we’re just trying to help you,” the officer calls back.
For the next 25 minutes, officers cordoned off the block, but were conscious of turning off any flashing lights on the cruiser that might have triggered. They shone flashlights on his hands instead of his eyes, and one officer tried to de-escalate calmly and gradually.
“Take out your guns!” he demands over and over again.
“We don’t want that,” the officer calls back. “Tell me how you feel.”
“You with the shotgun… set me free, brother. Send me to God – “he said later. “Just shoot me, brother.”
At the end of the tense back and forth, an officer could get close enough to use a taser and stun him long enough to handcuff him and take him to the hospital for help.
Many of the tactics the officers used that March evening were part of the KultureCity curriculum, which is standard training for officers in Salt Lake today. Some who replied that night had only been through the training days before.
“So we’d love them all to go. Part of this is for our new training, and we are continuing to include that training, ”said Detective Mike Ruff, a department spokesman. “This is one of those that we learn from as a department. We have a lot of new officers and they can learn from that and see, hey this is a result we want. “
While the incident doesn’t look too remarkable, it’s easy to see how it could have played out differently.
According to The Tribune, at least 40% of the police shootings in 2020 involved someone suffering from a mental crisis.
Last September, the mother of 13-year-old Linden Cameron, who has autism, called the police to take her son to a medical facility. The boy shot away and police officers chased him down and shot him repeatedly. Cameron survived and his family is suing the city.
That incident prompted Utah jazz security guard Joe Ingles and his wife, Renae, who have a son with autism, to persuade Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall to partner with KultureCity for all-inclusive sensory training for police and fire departments , the first force in the country to do this training. The Ingleses covered part of the cost of the training.
Mendenhall credits the lessons learned with helping to defuse the situation outside of police headquarters.
“It was safely resolved and when I thanked them for their behavior the officers said: This was because of our KultureCity training that we knew – and it wasn’t just one of us, all of the officers there knew what we were doing had to mitigate the potential that triggers this person and makes it a tragic incident, ”the mayor recently told The Tribune.
Of course, the shooting at Cameron was very different from what happened outside Police Headquarters in March, where more officers were trying to deal with someone they knew and who they had met before.
Training can make a difference in many situations where police officers are asked to intervene with people with behavioral problems or in a crisis. It can defuse situations, lead to better results, and help keep police and residents safe.
And more officers will receive this type of training in the months and years to come. Rep. Steve Eliason and Senator Daniel Thatcher partnered on legislation at the last session that requires annual training of officials for information on how to respond to people with mental illness, autism, or neurological or developmental disorders.
Another bill sponsored by Rep. Angela Romero adds mental health awareness and de-escalation training. Both bills went into effect last week.
It would be naive to think that a lot of training can avoid any bad result. However, as long as we expect police officers to be on the front line as social workers for people in crisis, empowering them to respond appropriately is vital, and it is encouraging to see the efforts moving so quickly pay off.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Robert Gehrke.
Comments are closed.