Illinois Valley police departments partner with Linked-Autism Safety Project

When an 8-year-old non-verbal autistic boy was reported missing in Peru a few months ago, law enforcement found themselves in the middle of a hectic scene where obtaining information was nearly impossible.

“We eventually found out he had crossed Shooting Park Road,” Peru Patrol Officer Brendan Sheedy said. “One of our busiest streets. Went down to the YMCA, went for a dip in the pool for an hour and 15 minutes.”

The police had previously checked the YMCA pool, but the photo provided was five years old and the person at the front desk didn’t recognize him.

After police reunited the child with his family, law enforcement realized they needed a program, so that if an autistic child were to go missing again the police departments and first responders would be more prepared to handle the call.

Sheedy has been working with La Salle’s Officer Ray Gatza ‚Mendota’s Interim Police Chief Tyler Kent, Oglesby’s Records Manager Lori Ambrose and Spring Valley’s Sgt. Josh Pellegrini for five months to start the innovative and partnership with Linked- Autism Safety Project.

LINKED is part of a non-profit organization which was created by Ashley McClain, a mother of a child with autism, to build a relationship between emergency responders and the members of the autism and special needs community, the departments said in a joint news release. This project was created as a collaborative effort with a network of public safety professionals, autism professionals and autism parents.

This program will act as a voluntary registration for the Illinois Valley’s official Autism Alert System.

“It doesn’t have to be a child with autism,” Sheedy said. “It can be anyone with an intellectual disability. It could be any age. If a family member has a parent with Alzheimer’s or dementia.”

Sheedy said any parent, caregiver or legal guardian of a person that could be considered “high-risk” to become a missing endangered person can participate in this program.

Sheedy said it’s common a police officer could come into contact with a nonverbal child with autism or a person with autism and think they’re being non compliant, when they just communicate differently.

“Sometimes when you approach a person with autism, they may be a little hesitant or scared, especially when you’re in a police uniform, " Chief Adam Curran said. “We just want to do our best to make sure they know we are there to help.”

Curran said the program is trying to raise awareness for autism within the community, specifically in situations where police need to communicate with one another, so they can provide the best service.

The Oglesby Police Department said the program will provide first responders with important individualized information about the persons and others within the special needs community, information such as the person’s picture, hobbies, and likes will all be available to the first responder.

It allows police to create a pre-arrival plan to best assist those within the community. All registrations are secure and confidential and used only for the response of first responders.

First responders will eventually be equipped with a sensory pack in every emergency vehicle that contains a variety of sensory products recommended by professionals in the field.

Along with the sensory packs, LINKED- Autism Safety Project is providing an Emergency Picture Exchange Communication System, which is a picture communication tool for non-speaking residents developed by professionals to assist in the dialogue between the child and emergency responders.

Sheedy said in the future, each department will also participate in Autism specific training through LINKED- Autism Safety Program to better understand and support the needs of the Autism community.

Caregivers of the autism and special needs community can access the registration form from the police departments’ website, social media page, or by stopping into the respective police departments to fill out a hardcopy of the registration form or click the following: La Salle, Peru,Mendota, Oglesby, Spring Valley.

Anyone who is interested in donating to the program can make a check out to LINKED- Autism Safety Project the or the Peru Police Department, 2650 N. Peoria St., Peru, IL 61354. Donations can be dropped off at the police department.