Letter From the Editor - March/April 2025

Welcome to the March/April issue of OFFICER Magazine and SPRING! March 20th was the official start of spring. Yes, I’m a little excited about it being spring. I fully admit that this summer, at some point, on some seriously hot day, I’ll start begging for fall and singing the praises of winter. Recognizing that, sometime during the winter I start longing for the warmer days, all of the new growth and, one of my favorite activities, camping season (for me). But you know what else happens? April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day, and the entire month is designated as Autism Awareness month.

I have to admit that I’m not familiar with how much is taught in the academy these days about autism and those who are challenged with it. Like so many other things, the number of people living with autism has unfortunately been politicized, and that can often drive people away from it as a topic in general. But in our profession, we have the realistic possibility of engaging with people with autism at any time—and do we know how to go about it in the best fashion?

In many situations where our first instinct would be to start shouting commands, doing so to a person with autism could have a very negative effect and result in behaviors that are the exact opposite of what is best for the given situation. Our OFFICER team has an in-service course under development for the OFFICER Virtual Academy that addresses autism and a few other disabilities, but until that course is available (at no cost to the end user), we wanted to offer something that can assist officers in their professional encounters that involve people with autism.

To that end, in this issue, we have a three-page section designed specifically to be torn out, reproduced, laminated and distributed to patrol officers and others (detectives, SROs, etc.). There is a page that explains the tear-out, and the tear-out page is, front and back, a tool that can be used to assist communication with a variety of citizens who may be non-verbal, have memory issues or other challenges. This three-page section is also available on officer.com for free download in PDF format, so you can print it, laminate it and make maximum use of it through distribution.

It’s spring—as I might have mentioned (with enthusiasm) at the beginning—a time for new beginnings and new growth. I encourage you to take the opportunity to use this tool to grow your ability to more efficiently interact with those who might have communication challenges. Beyond that, consider what other growth you’d like to create or manage for your career path and get started!

Stay safe!