COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Law enforcement officers in central Ohio are participating in a unique training, learning about safe and effective ways to interact with people who have autism.
Carrie Gutowski leads the training. Her son, Leo, was diagnosed with autism a decade ago when he was two years old.
Gutowski said there are a lot of behavioral signs a person with autism has that may also come off as a red flag to law enforcement.
“Someone with autism isn’t going to have a shirt that says, ‘I am autistic’ or a bracelet necessarily,” she said. “They might not even have a caregiver there that can give you a heads up. So, how are you going to know when it takes two days of testing at Nationwide Children’s with a doctor to decide if someone has autism?”
Gutowski hopes that after receiving the training, officers will be able to recognize those signs and adjust their response.
Gutowski is conducting the training alongside Delaware County Sheriff’s Deputy Jon Scowden, who also has a son with autism. They said they started the training nine years ago because they weren’t sure how their kids would react in a situation with law enforcement and worried how law enforcement would react to them.
The class shows officers how to recognize the behavioral signs of a person with autism like sensitivity to loud noise or light, fine motor issues, or trouble communicating.
“Leo greets people by saying, ‘Ah chew,’ you know,” Gutowski said. “Instead of going when they meet somebody, ‘Why is this kid saying, “Ah chew” to me, this is very strange,’ going, ‘OK, well, we had the class with Carrie and Jon. Maybe this is this child’s unique greeting.’”
Mental health professionals hope the training will help officers de-escalate rather than overstimulate.
“This is all meant to be a complement to what they already have,” Rhianna Mattis, associate director of the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, said. “This is just more tools in their belt, whether it may be, you know, the recognition of a mental health diagnosis, an autism diagnosis, you know, to be able to understand that.” This specific training was facilitated by the board.
There was law enforcement from several agencies in both Franklin and Delaware counties as well as other emergency personnel.
Gutowski said that every time she does the training, participants come up to her saying how impactful this is and how they wish they had learned it sooner.
“The main thing, honestly, here, is empathy, and I don’t mean empathy in an emotional way,” Gutowski said. “I mean empathy and, like, a human instinct of survival. The best way to get through an interaction is to understand where that person is coming from, how they’re perceiving the world around them. So what we’re doing is we’re saying, ‘Hey, officers, step into the mind of an individual with autism and be more aware of your surroundings.’”
Gutowski said she has trained thousands of law enforcement officers in central Ohio.