From the Madison [WI] Capital Times

Individuals with autism have up to seven times more contact with law enforcement than others, and police officers don’t always know what to do.

Among the tools available to Wisconsin law enforcement authorities is Project Lifesaver, a new electronic tracking program in which individuals are fitted with personalized electronic tracking bracelets.

Safety officials are also being trained at recognizing and dealing with the confusing behaviors of autism.

“There are so many more people out there with autism that we decided we needed to be proactive rather than reactive,” said Sgt. Lorie Wiessinger, director of the Dane County Law Enforcement Training Center. “These days, we need to be almost like social workers. We need to be sensitive and in front of the changes happening in our community.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under autism, criminal justice, law enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.