Closed petition Police Officers to have mandatory training in autism and learning disability

Closed on 27 August 2019

My son Oliver McGowan was only 18 when he died on 11 Nov 2016. I believe that if all police officers had have had mandatory training in understanding autism and learning disability they would have known not to restrain him during a seizure. They would have known to use a hands off approach.

It is my understanding that most police officers do not have any training in understanding autism and learning disability and yet often are sent out into the community facing people like this when in crisis. Traditional hands on attitudes are the wrong way to approach autistic and learning disabled people and will only ever escalate perceived challenging behavior. Its imperative that our Police Officers are given the right skills to enable them to work with our most vulnerable people in society.