Police Officer Michael Capobianco isn't afraid of much. A member of the elite Bureau of Special Operations he is a skilled marksman who practices jumping off building roofs, storming tenements and tackling drug crazed lunatics.
The one thing that terrifies Officer Capobianco is the specter of a wandering autistic child.
When he is "on the job," Officer Capobianco prepares for worse case scenarios: terrorist attacks, hostage situations, suicide bombers, dirty explosives, IEDs.
When he stares at the bedroom ceiling he thinks about how his son Matty, 8, darted away during a recent trip to Disneyworld. "I turned away for two seconds," Capobianco said, in his steely professional voice. "He was 40 feet away. Another 10 feet he would have been missing and we'd be searching for him amongst tens of thousands of people. It was just that fast."
Capobianco is a member of a rapidly growing group of families that have been impacted by autism. The US government estimates that one in every 150 children born today will be diagnosed with the debilitating condition whose cause nor cure has been fully identified.
Autism is a neurological disorder that mainly impacts social and communications skills. It can create anti-social behavior, including screaming, arm waving and self injury. A person in an autism "meltdown" can go on violent rampages lasting for minutes. Attempts at physical intervention often make the situation worse.
While autism was rare a decade ago, very few people in America today don't know someone on the spectrum.
On Tuesday Capobianco and a number of security professionals, educators and parents made a presentation to the leading security directors on Long Island titled "First Responders and Autism."
The presentation is one of the first of its kind in the country. The Nassau County Police Department, often overshadowed by the neighboring NYPD, has long been known as a leader in innovative law enforcement.
After the terror attacks of 2001, the Nassau Police formed a unit called SPIN (Security and Police Information Network) to assist coordination between law enforcement and private security. One of their first initiatives was to create agreed upon standards for closed circuit monitoring in order to make images useable as evidence. Their latest initiative is to train first responders--security guards, ambulance drivers, fire fighters--about the reality of autism.
"It is your employees who will be first on the scene, your employees who will be the ones to make the first assessment, the first right moves when some kid is having a meltdown," said Det. Sgt. William Leahy, who heads SPIN. "Not a day goes by that there isn't a story in the paper, something on television about autism. It is everywhere. And private security, the police department and society as a whole has to be prepared."
The "behaviors" include things that mimic criminal behavior. Capobianco spoke of getting back into the family car after a trip to a mall and realizing that Matty had acquired a $300 I-pod without his parent's knowledge. "We brought it back, but I had some explaining to do."
My autistic son, Dan, is 20 years old, stands well over 6 feet tall and weighs about 220. He has a sweet smile but doesn't realize that he might be considered menacing. Like many people on the far end of the autism spectrum, Dan can't speak. So he sometimes gets frustrated and acts out. His behavior can range from a sharp cry, to slamming his head to an attack on a family member or care giver (thankfully he doesn't approach strangers). He was recently in a tussle and a well intentioned civilian called 911, reporting a felonious assault. Five police cars arrived seconds later. They arrived ready to break up a fight with whatever force was necessary. Fortunately all the cops in our small town know Danny and they knew to exercise patience and let the incident play out without escalation or injury.
As part of my "day" job I provide consulting services to corporations and allied governments on methods to combat global terrorism.
I believe that the war against global terrorism is absolutely essential for the survival of civilization.
However as we talked to security guards this week I realized that the biggest danger daily danger is not a crazed fundamentalist but an autistic kid who is having trouble being understood. It is more likely that my son could be mistaken by a mall security guard as a criminal and that an attempt to detain him could turn bloody than an al-Qaida operative would visit the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, NY.
There are many theories about what causes autism ranging from environmental to genetic. There are folks who believe they've found the cure, although I've yet to see anything more convincing than snake oil.
The ongoing debate on "protecting the homeland" sometimes ignores just who we should be protecting. Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, himself a former policeman and father of an autistic adult, reminded the security officers of our primary duty as adults. "Our primary role as citizens is to protect our children," he said.
Protecting our children means fighting international terrorism. But on a daily basis it is much more about making sure that our children are not misjudged.