MODESTO – The Modesto Police Department has achieved a remarkable feature by becoming the first autism-certified police department in the state.
“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,” Lt. Bottoms said.
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 first in the state.
“We are pretty proud of the fact that we’re the first ones in California to be certified,” Bottoms said.
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 is born out of experience.
“One of the younger officers came to me and he handled a call awhile ago and he ran across a mother and a son, it was a teenage son, and this teenager had autism,” Bottoms said. “He could have had better tools to deal with it and if we could get 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.”