Heber City couple Michele and T.C. Thomas’ 9-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, likes to explore, even if he doesn’t have an adult with him.
“One day, I was in the bathroom, and my husband was gone, and my front door camera went off, and it was him. He was walking straight out the front door. He had figured out the childproof door handle and lock and just went on his way,” Michele said. “There’s so much to see, so many people to meet.”
Wandering is common among those with certain developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorder, but it also affects people with other conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. It refers to situations where someone leaves a safe area or a responsible caregiver, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reuniting the individual with caregivers can be complicated when the individual has communication differences or is nonverbal.
Because of risks like drowning and traffic injury, it’s important for law enforcement to “act fast” in such situations, as Michele put it. That’s why T.C., formerly a Heber City Police Department officer, created a vulnerable persons form about eight years ago.
The voluntary form allows residents to provide information about themself or a loved one in the case they go missing or have an interaction with law enforcement. It advises police on how best to communicate and interact with the individual and provides emergency contacts and photos of the person.
T.C.’s plans to expand the program “fizzled out” when he left the Police Department last July, according to officer Travis Price. So, Price took up the mantle himself, launching the new Project Safeguard last week.
Project Safeguard published the vulnerable persons form online, which includes sections about an individual’s triggers, calming techniques, likes and dislikes.
Likes have ranged from soothing music to the flashing lights of police cars, Price explained. Meanwhile, one person’s dislike was “males.”
“In that instance, we may rely on our female officers or deputies or first responders to have a key role in that. Maybe we want them to be the ones to initiate the conversation with the individual once we find them or calm them down,” Price said.
The Police Department is also distributing Project Safeguard stickers at the police station that can be placed on car or home windows to alert officers that a vulnerable person may be present.
The Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office is working on launching a similar Red Dot program, according to public information officer Leo Lucey. Residents can put stickers on their cars to indicate that someone in the vehicle may have special medical needs and provide a letter detailing those needs to law enforcement if pulled over.
The Police Department can also share information from Project Safeguard with the Sheriff’s Office, Price said.
The goal of Project Safeguard is for vulnerable persons to have “win-win” interactions with law enforcement, according to Cheryl Smith, the former president of the Autism Council of Utah.
She said her son, who is 28 and autistic, “does a lot of things that look sketchy” but are actually driven by his special interests.
For example, he may look into someone’s car window if he spots some VHS tapes, which he loves to collect. But because he is nonverbal, he would be unable to communicate what he was doing if he were to have a run-in with law enforcement.
“One of your fears as a parent is that your kid’s going to have an interaction with officers, and it’s going to go wrong,” Smith said.
That’s exactly what happened to Golda Barton in 2020 when she called 911 for assistance amid her 13-year-old son Linden Cameron’s meltdown. Salt Lake City Police arrived on the scene, and when Cameron, unarmed, ran from the house, officer Matthew Farillas shot him six times, injuring him. The family sued the city and was awarded $3 million in 2022.
Cameron’s shooting by police was part of what inspired Price to launch Project Safeguard.
“It’s very unfortunate what Cameron and his family had to go through. However, we can educate our officers when they see or hear, ‘Hey, this individual may be on the spectrum,’ to take a step back and realize … their boundaries may be different from other individuals and communication,” he said.
The incident also inspired legislation requiring Utah law enforcement training and intervention responses for mental illnesses, autism spectrum disorder and other neurological and developmental disorders at least once every three years.
In 2024, Crisis Intervention Team Utah trained the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office. The 40-hour program provides education about how to recognize symptoms of various mental illnesses and disorders and walks officers through scenarios, explained Executive Director Dr. Todd Soutor.
But he said the most valuable part of the training is connecting police officers with community officers who have “lived experience” and having them share their stories.
“Empathy is such an important component of responding in an informed and educated manner,” Soutor said.
The Autism Council of Utah also provides law enforcement training, but its interactions with local law enforcement agencies have been limited to providing autism sensory bags, free of charge, to the Police Department, Sheriff’s Office and Wasatch Fire District. The bags include fidget toys, noise-canceling headphones and Picture Exchange Communication System sheets, which nonverbal individuals can use to communicate by pointing at pictures or writing.
“We’ve had successes with that, where people have been so anxious they have actually gone nonverbal and were able to write out where they came from, so the officers could get them back home safely,” Smith said.
For example, body cam footage recently released by the Salt Lake City Police Department shows officers using a sensory bag to de-escalate an incident with an autistic child last month.
Soutor said Utah law enforcement’s treatment of vulnerable persons is “moving in a positive direction.” Project Safeguard, he said, is just one example of that.
To sign up for Project Safeguard, visit tinyurl.com/mrbccxnh. Summit County law enforcement agencies have a similar program. Learn more at tinyurl.com/rs96rb2b.