Autism Light: Brian Herritt
Brian Herritt and his son BrianBrian Herritt is a police officer with the Palomar College Police Department in San Diego County, California. His son Brian has autism. Besides being a police officer, Brian works for Autism Risk and Safety Management and keeps a busy schedule as a consultant/presenter for autism conferences and local groups related to either law enforcement and the autism community. His expertise as a presenter is how to improve relationships and build understanding between law enforcement and the autism community.
Morgan Cook wrote an article about Brian and said, “As an officer at the Palomar College Police department and the father of a severely autistic 8-year-old boy, Herritt has a special interest in filling what he sees as a significant gap in law enforcement training (Read Full Article).”
Brian Herritt trains fellow officers on autism awareness and how to relate to the unique needs of people with autism in the course of their jobs. He also trains parents and people with autism about how to relate to law enforcement. Brian explains his training like this.
Not only do I go to cops and say this is what parents go through, I want to tell parents what cops go through. We are called in law enforcement, when people don’t know what to do, and we are supposed to have an answer. The problem with autism is that cops don’t know what to do (Read Full Article).More information on the autism training that Brian provides can be found in the following online articles.
- North County Times Article by Morgan Cook
- Oregonian Article by Rebecca Woolington.
- Autism Society of Washington Conference
- Notes on the Presentation
- Autistic Journalist Blog
Brian Herritt is an Autism Light because of his leadership in providing helpful training to police officers, parents, and people with autism. Thank you Brian Herritt.
Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.
Photo: Photo in this post used with permission of Brian Herritt.
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