Boulder PD rolls out a program alerting officers to someone living with autism

BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder police rolled out a new autism decal program to protect people living with autism and keep their interactions with police safe.

Interim Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said questions and concerns from parents of kids living with autism were pouring in. Questions like, "What happens if my child that has autism is stopped by police?" Or, "Can I bring my child into the police department to interact with officers so maybe they're not so scared?"

Those questions and the search for a solution are now the culmination of the state's first agency to roll out this decal program.

"I learned about another state that was doing a decal program. They would hand out this decal to the community that allowed their officers to be more aware that someone may be neuro-divergent that they're going to interact with," Redfearn said.

He explained that sometimes a person with autism may show signs an officer could misinterpret as uncooperative or resistant, and something as simple as a decal could relay information quickly and keep interactions with police safe.

Boulder police rolls out a new decal program alerting officers to someone living with autism

"Our hope is if this sticker is on the car, the officer may know what the symbol means and take a second and even maybe ask the person, 'Hey, why do you have the sticker in the car?' And then they can share, 'Oh, my family member is living with autism,'" he explained.

In just two weeks, Redfearn said more than 80 people had purchased stickers for their cars or homes.

He said it's not a statewide initiative, but his department is sharing its program with other agencies in hopes of expanding it or at least making its officers and deputies more aware of what the decals mean.

"Our training is to evaluate every situation differently, take in everything the officers see, hear, feel, and adjust our response accordingly," he said. "This is just a way, I believe, that we can set our officers up better for success. It's not going to alleviate every potential bad situation, but I think it's a step in the right direction."

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