Autistic kids and adults far too often have violent encounters with police. Advocates have been pleading for more and better training to deal with the growing numbers of kids diagnosed with autism because they often respond differently to police commands:
“We see autistic people who are treated as if they’re intoxicated or they’re assumed to be noncompliant because it’s taking them a little bit longer than usual to respond to requests from police,” said Samantha Crane, legal director and director of public policy for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, in an interview with MintPress News.
Officer Rob Zink of the St. Paul Police Department in Minnesota is trying to change the way police interact with autistic people. He’s a father of three. Two of his children have autism. He’s actively meeting with autistic children and their parents, building trust with both parents and children:
Charlene Wilford says her son, Devonte, looks forward to visits from Officer Zink. He loves riding in Zink’s police cruiser, but that was not always the case.
“My child was scared of the police,” Wilford said. “He wouldn’t interact, he would go hide in the closet, anywhere.”
Zink says most children on the autism spectrum fear officers. His mission is to get rid of that fear, and give them a reason to trust police.
He also created the Cop Autism Response Education (CARE) Project to train fellow officers:
Officer Zink's first priority has been getting to know St. Paul families of children with autism and teaching them about the police. His second is helping police find quieter and gentler ways to defuse those calls.
“We need a general assessment for all officers to be able to see signs of these behaviors … before it’s too late,” Zink said.
“We have been seeing more calls relating to kids on the spectrum and Rob has kind of become our point person,” said Cmdr. John Bandemer, the head of patrol for the Western District where Zink works. “We are grateful that Rob has an interest in this from his point of view as a father. That and his work with families can kind of close the circle for understanding.”
He’s been greatly affected by cases in the St. Paul area in which autistic teens were violently arrested, like the case of Marcus Abrams, who was walking home from the state fair when officers spotted him:
The teen said officers accused him of being intoxicated or using drugs.
"One grabbed my arm and the other one grabbed my wrist and I told them to get off me -- I did nothing wrong," Abrams said. "They just slammed me right on the ground. I tried to get them off me and (one officer had his) whole body on my whole face and I couldn't breathe."
Drug tests confirmed Abrams was clean, no charges were filed and one of the officers involved was fired.
Officer Zink met with parents recently, including the mother of Marcus Abrams, to let them know he never wants to see that happen to another family. From the City Pages:
“This is very personal to me," Zink told Caldwell across the room. "Now I’m getting teary-eyed, but I never want to see an instance like what happened on the MTC happen to my sons. I give it my heart and I give it my promises as best as we can. We’re not perfect, we’re all going to make mistakes."
It’s clear Officer Zink is invested in the community and providing the kind of “protect and serve” community service these families need and deserve. We could use more Officer Zinks nationwide. See more about Officer Zink in this report from WCCO: