VINCENNES, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– The Vincennes Police Department received emergency communication boards Monday on behalf of the Autism Society for Indiana and Today’s Champions, a tool to help them communicate with non-verbal and other vulnerable populations.
Sgt. Aaron Luce said the boards will be a useful addition to each patrol car.
“This will be extremely effective,” he said. “We do make a lot of contact with people we might have a language barrier with, and we’re not able to communicate effectively with, or persons with Autism or mental health needs, they might be nonverbal and we have a hard time communicating with them,” he said.
The board has a collection of photos and questions people can point at to help explain their situation to responding officers. It also has a pain chart, and a keyboard if they need to spell things out. Luce said officers will receive training on how to use the boards as part of mandated de-escalation training.
He also said he hopes this can help raise awareness on resources available for those with Autism or other mental health issues.
“When they dropped these off yesterday, I went on their website and kind of checked it out,” he said. “It was pretty cool, they had a lot of pretty good resources, so I encourage people to check that out.”
A link to the website can be found here.
