Baltimore Police launch database for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities

In a stressful situation like an interaction with a police officer, some people with intellectual and developmental disabilities may avoid eye contact.

They might engage in repetitive movements known as stimming. Or take longer to respond to questions — if they are able to speak at all.

Any of these behaviors could be misinterpreted by officers as suspicious, experts and police officials say. If an officer fails to recognize what the person is going through, the encounter can escalate, as was the case when Howard County Police fatally shot a man with autism this year.

The Baltimore Police Department is now betting on a unique concept to better serve residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities: a voluntary program called the Neurodivergent Individuals Database.

In Baltimore, someone with an intellectual or developmental disability, or their caretaker, can sign up for a secure database accessible only by city police, said Deanna Bracken, the department’s liaison to the neurodivergent community. Enrollees can provide as much information as they choose, including a home address, a phone number, or details about how the person communicates.

Baltimore Police then give each participant a blue key chain with a unique number. If an officer encounters them, they can use the number on the key chain to find out where they live, their emergency contact and how to keep them safe.

Ten people have enrolled so far, but Bracken expects more.

The Banner found that police in Anne Arundel, Howard, Prince George’s, Montgomery and Baltimore counties each have methods tailored to better serve those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but none equivalent to what Baltimore rolled out this spring. Police departments in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois and Maine have programs similar to that of Maryland’s largest city.

When the department made the announcement on social media, there was some dismay about government overreach. While advocates largely cheered the concept, some criticized the police for rolling the program out without addressing privacy concerns. They noted any database should not take the place of officer training on safe interactions with people who have disabilities.

“Not every autistic wants to, for lack of a better term, be identified,” said Thairen Greene, a local autism advocate. “They didn’t want their bosses, the people they work with, to have access to it. They didn’t want to be targeted.”

Baltimore-based civil rights lawyer Cary Hansel wrote in a comment to Baltimore Police’s Facebook announcement that he “strongly” advised against “anyone in a vulnerable population adding themselves to a government database.”

“Imagine if immigrants or trans folks had done this at some point in the past,” Hansel wrote. “The current federal regime is already demanding voter roles and using state driver’s license data to wrongly stop and detain people.” Hansel did not immediately respond to a request from The Banner for additional comment.

Maryland has required law enforcement training on interactions with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities since 2015, when legislators passed a law in response to the killing of a man with Down syndrome at a movie theater by off-duty sheriff’s deputies in Frederick County.

Despite 11 years of progress by police, stakeholders say, law enforcement interactions with people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities have still ended tragically. In March, Howard County Police officers fatally shot a 25-year-old man with autism.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 6 children have a developmental disability. Roughly 3% of children have autism.

An estimated 30% to 50% of people killed by police have autism or other disabilities, according to the national Autism Society. By age 21, approximately 20% of youth with autism had been stopped and questioned by police.

The program mirrors one for elderly people with dementia or Alzheimer’s, who may be prone to wander. Baltimore Police officials say that program, which gives participants bracelets, has been successful.

Maj. Arnold Jenkins of the Youth and Community Partnerships unit said the new initiative could help reunite people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who may also be prone to wander, with their family or caretaker more quickly.

“It’s a cost-benefit situation: If your loved one is out there and you have no idea where they are, wouldn’t you want them to be able to come home?” Jenkins said. “Every single moment that they’re away from their family is harmful, mentally and emotionally. The benefit certainly outweighs the cost.”

Greene, president of the Autism Society of Baltimore Chesapeake, said her group helped police settle on key chains rather than bracelets, which could have been unpopular among those who are extra sensitive to touch. But she said the department’s announcement also blindsided her community because it was not clear enough that the database was private.

A follow-up message from the police department allayed some concerns, and Greene, who has children with autism, has come to see the measure as a positive because it’s a way to protect vulnerable people, and not designed to violate their medical privacy.

If someone with autism wanders off and has the key chain when they bump into law enforcement, all police “have to do is type in the number that’s on the key chain and they have direct contact with the contact on the key chain,” Greene said.

Other advocates and experts agreed the database and key chains could be helpful, but said it would be almost useless if officers don’t have training on these interactions.

An autistic person freezing or lashing out is “really how the individual is trying to cope with that stressful situation,” said Dr. Elizabeth Cross, a psychologist in the autism center at Kennedy Krieger Institute. “Some may benefit from extended time to respond to verbal language.”

“If someone says, ‘Hold on a second,’ they might literally be looking for something to hold on to and not understand the nonliteral interpretation of ‘hold on,’ which is to wait,” Cross said.

Pathfinders for Autism, an organization that works to improve the lives of people with the disorder, regularly conducts mock traffic stops with Baltimore Police and other Maryland agencies. These exercises serve to educate both officers and people with disabilities, Executive Director Rebecca Rienzi said.

“Not all disabilities in the IDD world are visible,” Rienzi said, referring to intellectual and developmental disabilities. “So we’re asking them, when safe, taking a few extra minutes to figure out when something is at play.”

Her organization also trains police on autism-related safety risks, including wandering and attraction to water. Last year, Prince George’s County Police deployed a helicopter and night vision goggles to search nearby bodies of water after an autistic 8-year-old boy went missing. Officers found him on a lake’s edge, his legs in the water.

Jennifer Eastman leads the Ethan Saylor Alliance, which Maryland founded two years after off-duty sheriff’s deputies killed the 26-year-old when he stayed to watch the second playing of a film.

The alliance is responsible for providing framework for training officers to respond to people with IDD, though each agency can establish their own curriculum. Training is required for all police academy recruits, while veteran officers must have refreshers every three years. Concepts include reducing stimuli like lights and sirens and slowing down.

She is involved in creating a multiagency review of Howard County Police’s fatal shooting of Alex LaMorie, who had called 911 to say he was the victim of a scam. Eastman said the officers in that case had special training, underscoring the need for better training and more conversations about law enforcement procedures.

“Is it training or is it protocol? What are they learning outside of the IDD training that needs to be changed?”