The oldest of Wichita police officer John Biagini’s three children — who are all autistic and non-verbal — had run away from home. Luckily, the officers who found him knew who he was and were able to comfort him. “It could have gone awful,” Biagini said about the event that happened about 10 years ago. The longtime school resource officer now serving on the department’s exploited and missing children unit is the department’s liaison for its new initiative — one that aims to help officers be better equipped to work with autism or communication problems. The initiative will include several things: kits in Wichita and Sedgwick County patrol vehicles to help calm people with autism, stickers that can go on houses or vehicles to alert police that they may be interacting with someone with autism, a card someone with autism can carry, training for all officers on interacting with people with autism, and a sheet officers will carry that will allow a non-verbal person to communicate through pointing at different letters and symbols.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
