Peabody's Autism Awareness Program aims to de-escalate police encounters
PEABODY - When police officers encounter someone with autism, the situation can get complicated quickly. That's one reason why the Peabody Police Department has implemented a new Autism Awareness Program.
The program includes a registry police can access which identifies neighbors with autism and aims to prepare officers to interact with people on the autism spectrum - ensuring safety and understanding between the local department and members of the community.
At 2 years old, Andrew Olimpio was diagnosed with autism.
"It was very emotional. . . but we quickly came to grips with it and certainly accepted and embraced the challenges," says Peabody resident John Olimpio.
Andrew is now 10 and some challenges still exist - recently during a brush with law enforcement.
"We were pulled over by a police officer. My Andrew, he reacted and started getting scared by the lights and things like that," says Olimpio.
Andrew tried to get out of the car.
"I jumped out of the car, and the police officer was a little alarmed," Olimpio said.
The officer yelled at the pair to get back in the vehicle.
"I yelled back, 'My son is autistic he's going to escape I need to get him.' As soon as I said that, to the police officer's credit, it de-escalated," Olimpio said.
"We learned from a mistake. It could have went bad and it didn't," says Lt. David Bonfanti, with the Peabody Police Department.
To make sure it never happens again, the Olimpio family and Peabody Police Department designed the Autism Awareness Safety Program.
The program website allows Peabody neighbors to register themselves or a loved one who may need extra care when interacting with police.
"There's different questions like, will sirens affect? Hands on? Verbal? Different things that will calm the situation down and de-escalate," says Lt. Bonfanti.
That information is available to dispatchers who can communicate with police about how to approach a situation.
"They can pull it up on their screen and verbalize over the radio to the officers the likes and dislikes of the individual," says Lt. Bonfanti.
He said the department will also distribute identifying seatbelt covers and an ID card.
"We tell everybody right from the beginning this is a volunteer program," he said.
The program is in the early stages but the registry is accessible online to anyone living in town, who wants to voluntarily sign up.
