PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria Police officers are receiving training on how to interact with children and adults with autism.
Workshops were conducted this week from retired Addison Police officer and owner of Blue Line Spectrum Safety Stefan Bjes, who is the father of two sons with autism.
He knows how important it is for officers to learn the difference between a perpetrator and someone with a disability.
Bjes told 25 News it is important for officers learn other means of communication other than speech because some people are mute.
“The population with autism has limited to no verbal ability,” said Bjes. “Just because they’re not verbal doesn’t mean they can’t communicate. We have to think about different strategies that we’re communicating. Whether that’s the use of visuals or different resources available, we should use them. I told our officers in training that it may be as simple as writing a message back and forth.”
Also on hand for the workshops was Tamika Lecheé Morales, also a mother of a child with autism and the president of an awareness group called the Autism Hero Project.
Morales explained a device called the Angel Sense device, which has GPS tracking for families to use if someone is missing.
She said the Angel Sense devices have other features like making familiar sounds or music for a person with autism.
“You can play that theme song, and you can be, maybe if they’re nonverbal, get them to kind of make sounds to come out,” she said. “If they’re being abducted, you can hear that interaction. There are so many things Angel Sense can do that other devices are not capable of doing.”
Bjes also said there’s one more training scheduled for Peoria officers, and five more scheduled in the fall for other groups.
This year, police officers and other first responders in Illinois are required to receive the training.
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