x
Breaking News
More () »

FDLE launches autism training program to elevate alerts, save time — and maybe lives

Children with autism are at a much higher risk of wandering off to dangerous places and drowning compared with others, the agency said.

TAMPA, Fla — The Florida Department of Law enforcement just launched an online tool to help 911 dispatchers across the state identify characteristics of autism.

The agency hopes that by recognizing those traits during interactions with people who call to report someone missing, they can issue an enhanced alert to find that person faster.

“We decided we can do more,” FDLE Inspector Chad Hoffman said.

The idea behind the course, which is voluntary for now, is to teach those taking 911 calls what to look out for.

If the person who’s gone missing meets certain criteria likely placing them on the autism spectrum, the dispatcher can then elevate the response to issue an enhanced missing child alert.

The alerts are similar to an Amber Alert but are more localized.

“It could be that the child is missing in a park. It could be that the child is missing in the community in their neighborhood or subdivision. And it geo-fences that specific neighborhood to a radius of five miles,” Hoffman said.

The training teaches 911 workers to identify keywords, behaviors and characteristics.

It’s needed, says Hoffman, because children with autism are at a much higher risk of wandering off to dangerous places and drowning compared with others.

“Children who have autism make up 10% of those drownings in the state of Florida even though they’re only 2% of the population,” Hoffman said. “That just puts the investigation into hyperdrive, where we can find these kids, you know within an hour, as opposed to, historically, it usually takes a lot longer than that.”

“It says something important about destigmatizing these sorts of diagnoses,” Dr. Norrine Russell said. Russell works with families whose children are on the autism spectrum, including her own 13-year-old son.

The FDLE training, she says, could save lives.

“The threat has to be elevated,” said Russell, "because the risk is there.”

FDLE says it’s been testing the training video with 911 dispatchers at the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office for the past few months.

Hoffman describes early results as “amazing,” identifying whether a child has autism usually within less than one minute of the call being received.

“When it comes to children that have autism who go missing, time is everything,” Hoffman said. “Time is a critical component.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out