Gilbert police equipped for autism-related calls

May 21—Gilbert Officer Levi Leyba remembered responding to a call where a grandmother reported that her grandson was missing.

The boy, 11 or 12 years old, lived with his grandparents and often rode his bicycle around the development. He also was autistic.

"So the child usually gets home if he's out with a friend at 8, 9:30 p.m.," Leyba said. "He had not come home. She got concerned."

Leyba interviewed the grandmother, friends in the neighborhood and made sure the house was cleared because "kids like to hide," while other officers searched the area, checking out places the boy liked to go to.

Then Leyba's recently acquired autism awareness training kicked in.

Children with autism spectrum disorder or ASD tend to wander and "a lot like to go to the park and bodies of water," said Leyba, now a spokesman for the department.

Leyba recalled finding the boy in a park area by water in south Gilbert. He would not disclose the park.

"He was walking his bike when I came across him," Leyba said. "I called out his name and he looked at me.

"'Your grandmother is concerned' and it went from there. He was slow in responding."

It's like someone who is not a native English speaker who has to process what is being said back into his or her language, Leyba explained.

"You have to speak directly and in short phases and allow for delay responses," he said. "You got to wait and repeat or rephrase it.

"Lot of times they talk to themselves and not give you eye contact. It doesn't necessarily mean they are avoiding us, it's just how they are."

Also, many of those with ASD don't understand simple slang — "are you pulling my leg: can become literal for them, according to Leyba.

And there are those who are non-verbal. That is when a notebook and pen that cops carry come in handy, he added.

"So after some time we were able to figure out he was ready to go home," Leyba said. "We put his bike in the back seat in the patrol car and he was reunited."

Gilbert Police Department is part of a growing trend of first responders trained on how to interact with people with autism. Locally Queen Creek Police and Fire departments and the cities of Mesa and Tempe have all earned their Certified Autism Center designations.

The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards awarded Gilbert Police a Certified Autism Center designation last spring and Gilbert Fire and Rescue Department Becomes received its certificate in April. Gilbert Parks and Recreation also is certified.

According to IBCCES, its law-enforcement program covers topics such as common signs or behaviors that someone may be autistic, empathy and understanding, sensory sensitivities, communication tips and safety concerns such as running or wandering away and drowning.

IBCCES is the only credentialing organization providing this type of certification.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in March that about 1 in 36 children are identified with ASD — up from the 1 in 44 in 2018. Boys are diagnosed with the developmental disability nearly four times more than girls.

Those with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction. Other signs of ASD include avoiding eye contact, repeating words or phases, giving unrelated answers to questions, hand flapping, body rocking and having unusual reactions to sound, smell and feel.

Leyba said in order to receive the certificate, 80% of the department's personnel who have direct contact with public — dispatchers and patrol officers — had to take the training. The annual training is two hours online.

Leyba said concerns from the community prompted the department to look at the training.

"We get confronted with people asking simple questions — 'my daughter is 14 years old and looks like an adult,'" he said. "They show a genuine concern for the welfare of their children. We thought it would be great for us to go through this training."

According to the National Institute of Health, about 20% of youth with autism has been stopped and questioned by police by age 21 and nearly 5% arrested. Without autism awareness training, those encounters could turn dangerous.

A case in point involved a 14-year-old autistic boy in 2017 who was "stimming" with a piece of string — a self-soothing behavior common in children with ASD — while standing alone in a park in Buckeye. Cops, however, mistaken the boy to be using an illegal inhalant drug.

While officers were questioning the boy, he attempted to walk away. On the second attempt, an officer grabbed the boy's arm to handcuff him and both fell to the ground leading to various injuries, including an ankle injury that required surgery, according to a lawsuit filed in 2021 against the city and the officers.

Leyba also pointed to three facilities in town that serve those with autism — Laurens Institute for Education, Autism Academy for Education and Development, and Hopebridge Autism Therapy Centers.

"Lot of adults and lot of children are being diagnosed with autism and on the spectrum scale," he said. "It's important for the department as a whole to go through the training to make sure we were actually helping out the best way in the community."

A resource the department offers and is making a big push to alert the community of is the "Bring Me Home Program."

It's a database containing details such as contact information for the department should a family member who is unable to adequately communicate wander away from home. Wandering is common among those with ASD.

The database, a free service to residents, also is intended to help seniors with dementia or Alzheimer's, those with hearing impairments and those who are developmentally disabled.

To date, 167 people are register in the program, Leyba said.

Although the certification has been in place for a year, there are no stats at this time to see how often Gilbert officers or dispatchers have come into contact with someone with ASD and the effectiveness of that training, according to Leyba.

"There is really no way of knowing," he said. "Community feedback is the main way we know it's working.

"There was a need in the community and the positive feedback kind of confirmed we are going in the right direction."