A shout out for good government policy is in order for the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles, which last week announced that a new program meant to help improve interactions between police …
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A shout out for good government policy is in order for the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles, which last week announced that a new program meant to help improve interactions between police officers and drivers with autism was going statewide.
The “Blue Envelope” program — which had been piloted in Connecticut and New Jersey, and in numerous Rhode Island communities including Central Falls, Cranston, Narragansett and Bristol — strives to provide a means for neurodivergent commuters to quickly and easily proclaim that they have processing issues or communicative delays, which could be misinterpreted or unexpected to an officer engaging the driver in a traffic stop.
If you’ve ever been involved in a traffic stop, even for something silly like a blown tail light, you know that it can be an incredibly stressful and anxiety-inducing situation. For those on the autism spectrum who may have difficulty dealing with high-stress or unanticipated situations that call for action, it can be even more severe. If the responding officer does not know about these developmental differences, the situation could spiral out of control, to the detriment of the driver, the officer’s safety, and the overall relationship between law-enforcement officers and the people they serve.
The program is not mandatory for anyone, but those with autism-related or sensory-processing afflictions now have the ability to opt into the program at any time, regardless of where they live in Rhode Island. The DMV will provide them with a blue envelope to hold their driver’s license, registration, insurance card and an emergency contact card.
The envelope also provides instructions to the driver on exactly what to do during a traffic stop, and the officer will have received training to be aware of the situation once they are handed the envelope, ensuring that all parties are on the same page for the duration of the traffic stop.
We applaud Rep. Samuel A. Azzinaro (D-Dist. 37, Westerly) and Sen. Victoria Gu (Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown), who sponsored the bill enacting the program to begin in the state, along with Gov. Dan McKee for signing the bill into law, and to Bud Craddock at the DMV for bringing the program statewide.
This is the kind of straightforward, empathetic and highly effective legislation that can prevent a potentially life-altering or traumatic experience from happening to those who are already at higher risk of being victimized or put into harm’s way due to their disabilities, and it is the kind of policy that makes us proud to be Rhode Islanders.
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