SAND SPRINGS, Okla. — A new legislative effort could help officers when interacting with someone diagnosed with autism.
Sand Springs Deputy Police Chief Todd Enzbrenner said the more knowledge and understanding law enforcement has of the people they deal with, the safer everyone will be.
“It’s fantastic that they had enough foresight see that it’s a problem for law enforcement and people in first responders’ services to deal with people who are autistic and maybe they have language barriers or maybe they have response barriers that we are not used to,” Enzbrenner said.
House Bill 3671 would allow Oklahomans with autism the option to identify their diagnosis on their state ID or drivers license. It would also allow them to voluntarily add information about themselves into a state-wide database that they want law enforcement to know — things like emergency contacts and stress induced behaviors.
Enzbrenner said knowing in advance if someone has autism helps them tremendously.
“If we know somebody is nonverbal and we know that they’re autistic we are going to handle that in a much different way than somebody that is non-compliant,” Enzbrenner said.