Modesto Police Department becomes first police department in the state to be autism-certified

Modesto Police Department says it's made history by becoming the first autism certified Police Department in the entire State CBS 13 sha Brown explains what it means for officers and the community want to we want to be able to show the community that we're spending their tax dollars in an effective way that's going to better serve them you don't often hear about a police department certified in responding to calls for those on the Spectrum that's because the Modesto Police Department is the firs

t in the state we're pretty proud of the fact that we're the first ones in California to be certified Modesto Police recently made history by receiving recognition as a certified Autism Center where 300 of their staff and officers are trained to better understand help and respond to calls that include people with Autism the training born out of experience um one of the younger officers came to me and uh he handled a call a while ago and he ran AC crossed a mother and a son and I was a teenage so

n and and the this teenager had autism he didn't feel like he he could have had better tools to deal with it and if we could get our all our officers to understand what that child is going through or what the person with autism is going through we could better serve their Community I think you know any level of training um would be a huge benefit for surveying this community Veronica tus with the mine Institute says educating officers will help them spot the Key signs of those with autism and so

kind of understanding those cues and knowing what to look out for can be really helpful in deescalate the situation and what might agitate some who are on the Spectrum and also things that we don't necessarily consider but like if you have your lights and sirens on that is something that can trigger a sensory response it could be over stimulating knowing that ahead of time and and if we're able to recognize those signs immediately and you know we use our Tools in a different way to uh to you kn

ow deescalate the situation or better communicate with that person the police department say they hope this will encourage other departments throughout the state to be certified and thanks to their own officer and shedding light on the importance of serving not just the general public but the community as a whole