TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The shooting of a Miami behavioral specialist by a police officer while trying to calm an autistic man points to a lack of training for police dealing with someone who is autistic, said experts in the field, but efforts to increase police training have gone nowhere two years in a row.
Video of a police officer shouting for an autistic man to lay down fell on deaf ears. Autism experts said the man sitting had no idea what he was being asked to do.
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"How important is it that police officers get additional training in recognizing someone who is on the spectrum?" reporter Mike Vasilinda asked.
"It's critical for every single community, because the individuals in a community have to feel like they can trust their police department," said Victoria Zepp, a mother and advocate for the autistic. "I mean, I see a police officer, and I thank them for their service, you know, and I also say, 'Have you had any training in autism?'"
The answer is usually no. Florida currently spends $67 a year on each officer for training and retraining.
Efforts to provide additional training for police to deal with autistic individuals has failed two years in a row because of cost.
Lawmakers did pass a bill this past session that requires police to allow experts in the room when they are interviewing an individual who is autistic.
"I think what people need to know is that they're aren't good guys, bad guys in the process," Zepp said. "It's about education."
Sheriff Mike Wood said better training will help officers re-earn respect they appear to have lost.
"There are circumstances like that that aren't necessarily with evil intent, but when you have a lack of training, a lack of preparation, these things occur," Wood said.
Two-hundred eighty thousand Floridians, or one in every 68, show up on the autism disorder spectrum.
The police officer in North Miami fired three shots, missing his intended target, but he did hit the man lying down, who was the autistic individual's case worker, in the leg.