Daily Briefing: Daily briefing: A look at how police are trained to respond in crisis

As a mom of a 6-foot-tall, 200-pound autistic man, I'm thrilled to see police being trained to deal with folks of all backgrounds. ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ Advertisement [eNewspaper]( | [Crosswords]( | [Horoscopes]( [Read in browser]( The Daily Briefing YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP Wed Jul 10 2024 Lynne Sullivan | Regional Executive Editor [@LSullivan73]( Good morning, Lynne Sullivan here again, filling in for Will Richmond. As many of you know, I have a 22-year-old son with autism. He is basically non-verbal and, like with many on the spectrum, Conor struggles with changes to his routine and he struggles with regulating his emotions. In fact, a "tantrum" could look to an outsider like he's being violent. So one of my biggest fears as a mother is that we are in a car accident and incapacitated and the first responders encounter a scared, angry Conor and think he's threatening them. I shudder to think of what could happen. I know that it's the same for families of those who struggle with mental illness, addiction and other disabilities. Typically, when police are called to a scene, tensions are high. Add in adrenaline and a chaotic scene and it's a recipe for disaster. We are asking police to make split-second decisions and when those decisions are wrong, no one forgets that tragedy. So I was extremely interested in [Katie Mulvaney's story about the police de-escalation training]( taking place at Roger Williams University. The two-day training equips officers in crisis interventions, giving them the skills and awareness to make rapid personality and threat assessments to better inform them about the people they encounter. Paid for through a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the training is provided free to police agencies. David E. Lambert, the director of the program and a former Massachusetts state trooper, acknowledges that “Police don’t necessarily know what a person’s background is. … It’s a no-brainer that we should be teaching people to de-escalate. There’s science behind this.” The police officers learn about their own personality cues and they are taught to take all assumptions off the table to properly read a situation. What I love, too, is that this story forces the reader to take their own assumptions about police off the table. WORTH A READ: ⛴️ What's it like to be the ferry captain for the "lifeline" between mainland Massachusetts and Cuttyhunk Island? 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[READ MORE]( [Jadine Ferri, a school resource officer in Coventry, with police department comfort dog Jovie. "The more strategies we learn, the better officers we’ll be,” Ferri said of the de-escalation techniques she learned at Roger Williams University.]( [Police across Northeast are learning to defuse crises at RWU program]( The Roger Williams University program uses communication techniques to decrease use of force and boost community confidence in policing. [READ MORE]( Advertisement Vote with Confidence This 7-day newsletter course will help you be an informed voter before Nov. 5. [SIGN UP NOW]( SUBSCRIBE TODAY Our Reporting. Your Stories. Full access to subscriber-only content on all devices. Share bonus subscription with a family member or friend. The universal eNewspaper, the digital version of our print paper, plus bonus monthly magazines and hundreds of local papers. Original reporting of our hometown teams, from high school sports to the pros. 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