Kansas City Star reports a textbook case of lack of training by police departments – but loss of communication between our community and law enforcement. I know – most of us think we have too much on our plates – but who else is going to educate people?
Honestly, if someone came up into your yard towards your front door, and when they realized you were home, took off running, would you assume autism or suspicious person? Be honest. If you were home alone, would you call the police of an apparently grown man was in your yard and you thought he behaved in a suspicious manner?
I don’t expect the police to be able to psychoanalyze and identify someone with autism in under a minute. This is another example where we always think that we – or someone else that knows them- will be there.
What if it was an active shooter situation, near a school or mall? He would’ve been shot for non-compliance on sight. We don’t know what route he was jogging.
However, let’s take this case solely on the details reported. They claim Kramer was low functioning enough to not realize what was happening or able to respond to basic commands or communicate. If the young man was that low functioning, what was he doing jogging alone that far from home, without assistance? We all saw what happened to the teen that was tortured on FB. My children know their way home, and all of our children SHOULD be acquainted with law enforcement in a non-confrontational manner – but I wouldn’t allow them to take off on their own. Realistically – taking out the “bad policeman” scenario. What if he ran into a confrontation from another jogger, a mugger, a person with a scary dog off leash? What if he accidentally ended up in someone’s back yard? Not all yards have fences. That could have gone wrong to the extreme.
In terminology we’ve all been taught – there needs to be a proactive plan in place. And honestly, we are working on that and will keep you updated.
#autism
#police
#lawenforcement
#policelivesmatter
#autismlivesmatter