Project Guardian protects across the spectrum
Sheriff’s Office aims to improve interactions with people who have autism
For members of law enforcement, “protect and serve” aims to include everyone. When responding to a distress call, they often find someone agitated, perhaps avoiding eye contact, muttering under his or her breath, not answering simple questions or following basic instructions. In a word, suspicious.
The person could be guilty of something. Or under the influence. But he or she might have autism — and if so, the officers need to react differently to prevent a fluid situation from quickly going south.
A new initiative from the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office called Project
Guardian aims to help deputies avoid causing stress or trauma by alerting them that they’re about to interact with a person on the autism spectrum.
The online registry allows families to submit information about a loved one with the developmental disorder, which is marked by impaired communication and often accompanied by sensory sensitivities, repetitive behaviors and a narrow range of interests. Families are encouraged to provide a recent photo of the child or adult and interests or characteristics — such as whether the person can communicate verbally — along with calming methods that have proved effective.
“Project Guardian engages the community, builds positive relationships and embraces public safety as a shared responsibility,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a news release. “It’s an example of what we can accomplish together.”
The information is uploaded to a database linked to the dispatch system so that it pops up when deputies are sent to the home of someone enrolled in Project Guardian. Families are also given a Project Guardian decal to place on a front door or window to quickly alert deputies to the presence of someone with autism.
“On patrol, you can never have enough information,” said Sgt. José R. Gomez, who leads the patrol bureau’s special projects division. “… A parent, loved one or guardian is going to know way more about what (de-escalation technique) has worked in the past than we will. If we know the person likes ‘Star Wars,’ we can strike up a conversation about that. It’s another tool in our toolbox.”
Similarly, if the family has indicated loud noises or flashing lights could be upsetting, deputies know to turn off sirens and lights when possible.
The program is modeled after the Newport News, Va., police department’s effort of the same name. It complements the sheriff ’s office’s other crisis-intervention and mental health efforts to divert people in crisis from arrest and incarceration, Gomez said.
Some may have qualms about volunteering personal information, but “this has the potential to be life-changing for families,” said Judy Blake, leadership and advocacy coordinator of Family to Family Network, a Houston nonprofit that supports children with disabilities, including intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). “Law enforcement, they need to know.”
One in 59 children has autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that number, along with any count of adults, is probably low, especially in Houston, with a diverse population that includes refugees and immigrants whose autism often has gone undiagnosed, said Blake, who serves on a juvenile justice subcommittee of the Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD.
Nationwide, 85 percent of youth in juvenile detention facilities have disabilities that make them eligible for special education services, yet only 37 percent receive them while in school, according to a 2015 report from the National Council on Disability. A disproportionate number are youths of color, the report noted.
The sheriff ’s office doesn’t specifically track calls involving autism, but in July, deputies responded to 1,300 with a mental health component, Gomez said. Going forward, as his team follows up with families on incident reports mentioning autism, Project Guardian will be offered.
Maranda Marvin said she
“wouldn’t think twice about signing up.” As both a mother of a daughter with autism and director of Paradigm Development Center, a nonprofit school in northwest Houston for students 11 and older with the disorder and similar challenges, she sees a clear need.
When law enforcement — she doesn’t recall which agency — once was called to the Paradigm Development Center for a student having a behavioral problem, “the officers were very nice and calm, but they were not very familiar with … how a person with autism may verbalize, not verbalize, shut down or react,” Marvin said. Though they welcomed her input, she said, it would’ve been useful had they arrived better equipped.
(Sheriff ’s patrol deputies and detention officers undergo 40 hours of crisis-intervention training, which includes a unit on autism, Gomez said.)
Marvin, who is Black, and her husband, Loren Marvin, who is white, have talked to their 15-yearold, Naomi, about various scenarios should she ever need to interact with a member of law enforcement.
“All we care about is survival,” Marvin said, noting she is “very for law enforcement” and, “I totally respect what they have to do.”
At Paradigm, students learn that to the best of their ability, effective communication is also their responsibility.
“We make sure our kids understand that this is (law enforcement’s) job,” Marvin said.
Gomez said Project Guardian holds great promise, not only for deputies but for communities.
“When we get to a house, the first person we encounter may be the person in crisis, not the family,” he said. “This will equip deputies with way more information ahead of time.”