ORLANDO, Fla. — A bill that would mandate training for law enforcement officers across the state on how to deal with cases for people on the autism spectrum is expected to be considered in the upcoming legislative session.

What You Need To Know

  • House Bill 829 is sponsored by Orange-Osceola state Representative Paula Stark and seeks to mandate four-hour law enforcement trainings on how to deal with cases for people on the autism spectrum

  • The Autism Society of greater Orlando and Osceola has been providing this type of training for law enforcement at the local level for more than eight years now

  • A training was held at the Volusia County Sheriff's Office on Monday

House Bill 829 is sponsored by Orange-Osceola State Representative Paula Stark, who will be making a push for the legislation this week.

“Law enforcement currently has an option to have training with people with autism, along with other types of training,” said State Rep. Stark in a statement. “As filed HB 829, we are merely asking for it to be mandated to have four-hours of training, so we have a better opportunity of less negative interactions.”

The Autism Society of Greater Orlando and Osceola has been providing this type of training for law enforcement at the local level for more than eight years now.

“We have been trying to get this training to become a law now for many years,” said Donna Lorman, President of The Autism Society of Greater Orlando & Osceola. “To see a representative and senator both see the importance of this will absolutely help our kids be safer.”

An advocate for the bill, Bal Harbour Police Department Detective Hector Gonzalez, says he partnered with The Autism Society to become an instructor after his middle son was diagnosed with autism.

The group has trained over 40,000 law enforcement officers across Florida and Georgia.

“I had to learn how to be a father of autism,” said Gonzalez. “Then I became a police officer and... realized that people did not teach us at the academy how to deal with my son’s disability.”

The society hosted a training at the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. It was a full eight hours with 60 officers present.

The training focuses on how to identify people with autism and how they can deescalate, interact and more.

“We’ve done this training for a few years now. There was no particular incident that happened with our agency but in the name of productivity and seeing the trend, we wanted to drop in front of that,” said Deputy Justin Ferrari, Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

The agency says they do have policies and procedures in place for calls that include autism characteristics. Deputies say the dispatch center asks specific questions to gather information.

“When we arrive on scene, not only do we already know that, but we look for the family member who called in and can ask more questions about the person with autism,” said Ferrari.

The Autism Society of greater Orlando and Osceola will be hosting a second training session in Kissimmee on Tuesday, where Representative Paula Stark will also be in attendance, trying to drum up more support for House Bill 829.