PEABODY — Chief of Police Thomas Griffin, Lieutenant Dave Bonfanti and School Committee Member John Olimpio came together recently to discuss a new autism program the police department is starting.
“It’s designed to help us educate ourselves here at the police department about autism and members of the community that may have autism or some other disability that we need to be aware of when we respond to an incident or pull a car over so that we can manage that situation more effectively and more safely,” Griffin said.
To participate in the program, people in the community can go to peabodypolice.org and fill out an “Autism Awareness Registration” form. The form asks for the individual’s information, what their diagnosis is, and the information for their “safe person.”
“While it’s titled ‘Autism Awareness’ it’s not just about folks who may have autism,” Griffin said. “We’re concerned about folks that may be hearing impaired, folks that may be visually impaired, any kind of disability we should be aware about.”
After the form is filled out the department will ask for a photo of the individual, Bonfanti said.
“This will be automatically uploaded into our system and then put into our database where the dispatchers will be trained to ask the proper questions,” Bonfanti said. “This is not only going to protect the people that we serve but it will also protect our officers.”
The information provided for this new program will stay in the department and not be shared with others, Griffin said.
Those who fill out the form, or have it filled out for them, will be provided with an ID card, as well as two seat belt attachments that will allow an officer to know someone with a disability is in the car.
Olimpio, who has a ten-year-old son with autism, said it is a “great idea” for everybody’s safety. He said if an officer knows that someone in a situation has autism they can be “better prepared.”
“When you have a child with autism sometimes the most routine things aren’t routine,” Olimpio said. “What happens is certainly if we are traveling in a car and if we were to get pulled over, sometimes my son won’t react the way, say, a typical kid would.”
“That’s something we want to educate ourselves on so that we can help settle a situation rather than escalate it,” Griffin said.
Bonfanti said they have made mistakes in the past, but they are trying to learn how to serve the community better.
“I believe that this program will make it that much better,” he said.
