South Fulton police show Channel 2 how they train officers to work with people with autism

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — In a Channel 2 Action News exclusive, the South Fulton Police Department showed how they train their officers to work with people with autism.

A former Atlanta Police Department officer, whose son has autism, teaches the course.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in Clayton County where the South Fulton Police Department’s temporary headquarters is, to see everything officers learned.

The training the officers got Tuesday could mean the difference between life and death.

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Fernandes watched the presentations the officers learned from at the training, where police learned about how things like an “officer’s approach” can really affect the outcome.

Many times, people with autism are affected by lights and sound, even smells like if an officer is wearing cologne.

With that in mind, police in South Fulton are adjusting their response to have a better outcome with some members of the community.

Devion Harris has been a South Fulton officer for almost a year.

“I definitely think this will humanize us,” Harris said.

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He said the community’s perception of police isn’t always accurate. That’s why he believes the four-hour training course, called “Autism Safety 101,” is necessary for all of the officers, so the community understands.

South Fulton police are using the training to learn how to effectively communicate with someone who has autism.

“Four hours is nowhere near enough to really cover the entire understanding of people with ASD in general,” Harris said. “There’s so much more we can learn, this is just a very entry level of understanding so that everyone has that standardized learning.”

The instructor for the training seminar is a former APD officer. He went through different scenarios with officers, he had them watch a news story from another state that showed what happened when an officer didn’t realize a teen had autism, then showed South Fulton officers what they can do differently.

The instructor also explained what “stimming” is, which can sometimes be viewed as suspicious behavior.

“I think that every agency should do this, it should be required by the agency and I think you’ll have better outcomes when officers show up on scenes,” Sgt. Helio Garcia said, adding that the training will make every single one of these officers better.

The instructor only trains two police departments, one in South Fulton and the other in Thomasville. He said some other agencies do a more condensed version, where the training is only 30 minutes long.

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