STRATEGIES TO PROVIDE A MORE SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT: P Ensuring a calm and structured environment P Sensory accommodations P Physical considerations for personal space P Appropriate de-escalation techniques
In April 2024 during Autism Acceptance Month, our department decided we needed to be more action and less planning when it
came to protecting and engaging our autism community members at NJIT and within the greater Newark area.
After multiple conversations with command staff in the months prior, we decided that our officers could better serve our community by having potential de-escalation tools available on patrol that can be used to calm and build trust, when needed, during police and autistic community member interactions. These tools came in the form of deploying autism-friendly sensory bags in patrol vehicles and marking these vehicles with a specific sticker to allow the public to know sensory kits were within the vehicle.
We needed to be more action and less planning when it came to protecting and engaging our autism community members
| Kevin Kesselman, Chief of Police, NJIT Police Department Autism New Jersey LEAC Member
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