In July 2023, the Police Executive Research Forum and RAND organized an expert workshop on the law enforcement response to persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). This report documents the proceedings of that workshop, topics considered, and the 23 high-priority needs that participants developed. This report should be of interest to law enforcement administrators, analysts, researchers, and IDD community stakeholders.

Law Enforcement Response to Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Identifying High-Priority Needs to Improve Law Enforcement Strategies

Dustin A. Richardson, Jeremy D. Barnum, Meagan E. Cahill, Dulani Woods, Kevin D. Lucey, Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson

ResearchPublished Sep 23, 2024

Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) are lifelong conditions that are usually present at birth or by the age of 18. IDDs can affect an individual's physical, intellectual, and emotional development. Individuals with IDDs are overrepresented in the justice system for myriad reasons, and studies have found that IDD-related challenges can make interactions with police officers difficult. Police are trained to recognize and respond to a wide variety of situations in which individuals are acting atypically, but many IDDs are hidden or not immediately recognizable by physical characteristics and can be mistaken as the effects of drugs or other substance use. Although police need not diagnose specific IDDs, it is critical that they can recognize when IDDs present in a crisis situation and know how to respond appropriately.

RAND and the Police Executive Research Forum, on behalf of the National Institute of Justice, organized a workshop of subject-matter experts, including police practitioners, researchers, individuals with lived experience, and community stakeholders to discuss the current law enforcement response to individuals with IDDs and identify research and policy needs to support efforts to address expert-identified problems and opportunities. Through a series of interviews and group discussions, the workshop participants identified 23 high-priority needs, six of which they categorized as highest priority. These needs address issues related to (1) understanding law enforcement's involvement with persons with IDDs, (2) improving IDD training and resources for law enforcement, and (3) establishing partnerships and avenues of dissemination for improving the law enforcement response.

Key Findings

The most significant barrier to improving the law enforcement response to persons with IDDs is the inability to answer basic questions regarding law enforcement's involvement with this population

  • Little is known about law enforcement agencies' approaches to the IDD population in their communities.
  • There is a lack of standards for the IDD-related data that should be collected, who should collect the data, and where they should be stored.
  • Law enforcement professionals frequently lack critical information (e.g., information about the individual, such as sensory sensitivities or passions) when responding to IDD-related calls or encountering persons with IDDs in the community.
  • There are not enough individualized community-based solutions for supporting justice-involved individuals with IDDs.

There is scant guidance on how training should be developed and delivered for a variety of criminal justice professionals (officers, dispatchers, etc.)

  • Consequently, existing training lacks uniformity and often neglects a broad range of cultural competencies, intersectionalities, and other disabilities.
  • Existing training lacks information on how to help people with IDDs in such scenarios as due process and understanding their rights (for individuals who do not understand) or taking victims seriously when they do not present as neurotypical.

The needs identified by the expert panel underscore two overarching themes: (1) the significance of partnerships and (2) the importance of information dissemination

  • Law enforcement professionals frequently lack information about available community resources when responding to IDD-related calls or encountering persons with IDDs in the community.

Recommendations

  • Facilitate the development of a working group that is focused on the research needs for the intersection of IDD issues and the criminal justice system (similar to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services IDD Working Group).
  • Identify and document the relevant data on individuals with IDDs and their interactions with law enforcement (including courts and corrections) that are already being collected by various federal, state, and local organizations.
  • Consider tracking relevant data in computer-aided dispatch, pre-police contact, critical missing cases, drowning cases, and comorbidity rates between IDDs, serious mental illnesses, and substance use disorder.
  • Conduct research to identify the existing best practices and potential needs (e.g., screening instruments) for dispatch entities.
  • Conduct research to identify the benefits and costs of diversion centers that provide alternative locations for helping individuals with IDDs who are in crisis.
  • Develop standards to guide law enforcement on what to collect, who should collect it, and how it should be protected and accessed.
  • Conduct research to identify the programs that already exist and how well they are working (including lived experience perspectives).
  • Using interdisciplinary teams, develop IDD-specific standards and objectives for law enforcement training (both at the academy and in service).
  • Examine existing practices for coalition-building that result in collaborative efforts (e.g., disability response teams, pathways training, train-the-trainer sessions).
  • Department of Justice agencies should use their grantmaking programs to motivate data collection, research, and dissemination on IDD topics (e.g., grantees should be required to supply data as a condition of the grant).

Topics

Document Details

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Richardson, Dustin A., Jeremy D. Barnum, Meagan E. Cahill, Dulani Woods, Kevin D. Lucey, Michael J. D. Vermeer, and Brian A. Jackson, Law Enforcement Response to Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Identifying High-Priority Needs to Improve Law Enforcement Strategies, RAND Corporation, RR-A108-26, 2024. As of October 12, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA108-26.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Richardson, Dustin A., Jeremy D. Barnum, Meagan E. Cahill, Dulani Woods, Kevin D. Lucey, Michael J. D. Vermeer, and Brian A. Jackson, Law Enforcement Response to Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Identifying High-Priority Needs to Improve Law Enforcement Strategies. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA108-26.html.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was supported by the National Institute of Justice and conducted by the Justice Policy Program within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.