A product of ASD socio-communicative-deficits and insufficient police training related to autism, ASD-police interactions have the potential to become problematic, with negative outcomes for ASD individuals and police alike. Thus, the combination of police acclimation, simulatory experience for drivers with ASD and the introduction of…

Ryan Gainer, a 15-year-old African-American youth on the Autism-spectrum, was shot and killed by police officers in March 2024. The authors reflect on the tragedy of this incident and the harms that such police actions inflict on people living with disabilities and/or mental illnesses, as well as on their families, loved ones, and communities.…

This study aimed to describe the experiences of autistic people who had interacted with police in Australia in the previous 5 years. Fifty autistic adults and 61 parent/carers completed a questionnaire and 30 participants took part in an interview. Participants were most commonly interacting with police in the context of seeking assistance or as…

Semi-structured interviews were employed to (a) characterize LEOs' knowledge of ASD, (b) understand interactions between LEOs and individuals with ASD, and (c) identify training needs to prepare LEOs for interactions with the ASD community. Researchers utilized a constructivist grounded theory approach to analyze data from 17 participants: (a) six…

This study aimed to describe police interactions, satisfaction with police engagement, as well as examine correlates of police involvement among 284 adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) followed over a 12- to 18-month period. Approximately 16% of individuals were reported to have some form of police involvement during the…