Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 27 May 2019
Virtual reality helps police in dealing with autistic people

By MICHAEL BALSAMO it,” he said. Police depart-
Associated Press ments large and small
WASHINGTON (AP) — An have had difficulties re-
autistic man walks out of sponding to calls involving
a store without paying for autistic people. In Graham,
a toy he picked up. He’s Texas, about 120 miles (195
followed by a storekeeper kilometers) west of Dallas,
demanding he come back a 19-year-old man was
inside. The situation quickly throwing rocks at his neigh-
escalates, and police are bor’s fence. The autistic
called. teenager, Michael Moore,
Officers arrive, their patrol had difficulty communi-
car’s lights flashing and cating with the respond-
sirens blaring, to find the ing police officers, so they
man in the parking lot, yell- guessed he might have
ing and not responding been drunk or high. They
to their commands. They tried to give him a field so-
have a choice: confront briety test and when he
the man and risk having failed the test, they moved
the situation turn violent or in to arrest him. A struggle
regroup to figure out a dif- ensued. Body camera vid-
ferent approach. eo shows the teen, whose
The scenario is part of a mother says he has a “high
virtual reality simulation for Axon Immersion Training Virtual Reality (VR) headset, used in training police officers to learn the functioning” form of autism,
police that’s being devel- best way to interact with people who suffer with autism, Thursday, May 23, 2019 in Washington. being shot with a Taser and
oped by Axon — the com- Associated Press thrown to the ground.
pany known best for devel- dealing with people who ing as the storekeeper ap- choose to either talk to “When the officers ap-
oping the Taser — so offi- have schizophrenia. “The proaches somewhat an- their partner or close in and proached him, he tried
cers can learn how to inter- ability to tell the difference grily and pulls the toy robot confront the man. to maintain contact,” his
act with people who have between someone who’s away, telling the man he The officers are taught that mother, Tracie Brown, said.
autism and de-escalate acting in an unusual way needs to pay for it. Police flashing lights and sirens “It’s very hard for people
situations that could quick- that may be due to their are called and officers ar- can be overstimulating with autism.”
ly turn awry. The develop- autism versus someone rive and confront him. They and just turning them off “His hands were visible at
mental disorder that can who could be a risk to you can then play it from the could ease the situation. all times and he kept saying
involve varying degrees can be a really fine line,” perspective of the police They are also encouraged over and over, ‘My mama
of language and social said David Kearon of the officers, observing tell-tale to remain calm, avoid is inside. Let me go get my
impairments, often includ- advocacy group Autism signs that someone could physically confronting the mom’ and for whatever
ing repetitive behaviors. In Speaks. “When you’re try- be autistic. A crackling person and to engage spe- reason the police officers
2018, the U.S. government ing to make that judgment call on the radio reports an cially trained officers from a refused to come and veri-
estimated about 1 in 40 kids very quickly, that’s where aggressive male suspect mental health crisis team, if fy,” she said.
is diagnosed with autism. we see mistakes made.” shoplifting and fighting with their department has one. Brent Bullock, Graham’s in-
This week, the company The officers don headsets an employee. The officers The training can also cre- terim chief, said all of his 25
announced a partnership similar to those used for vid- pull up to find the man in ate “a sense of empathy” officers underwent autism
with Chicago police to eo games and are immedi- the parking lot, holding the and emphasizes that other training after the incident
train officers by using vir- ately immersed in a virtual toy and flailing his arms. methods like shouting or and were given field guides
tual reality headsets. It will reality training ground. With They introduce themselves grabbing a suspect, “can to identify whether some-
be making the program, a small remote, they can and ask the man what’s hyper-escalate someone one may have autism or
developed with the help pick the scenario and go happening. He doesn’t re- who is autistic,” Rick Smith, be suffering from a mental
of mental health and au- through each training sce- spond. Axon’s founder and CEO, health crisis.
tism experts, available to nario in just about five min- “We need you to calm said in an interview with The “I believe it was a positive
police departments across utes. down!” an officer tells the Associated Press. thing,” he said. Since then,
the U.S. In the autism scenario, of- man, who is hitting himself “Rather than just training his officers have encoun-
For now, they offer two ficers experience it first in the head and speaking police how to use a Taser, tered similar situations and
training modules: one for from the point-of-view of incoherently. maybe we should train managed to de-escalate
autism and another for the autistic person, watch- The officers can then them how to avoid using them, Bullock said. q

Rep. Hurd says US isn’t prepared to

combat altered videos

Associated Press by-side comparison of the false video to
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican con- C-SPAN footage of Pelosi’s speech at a
gressman and former CIA officer says conference in Washington and conclud-
America isn’t prepared for disinforma- ed the altered video had been slowed
tion campaigns that use altered video down. Hurd also raised concerns on CBS’s
to spread false information across social “Face the Nation” about “deepfake”
media. Texas Rep. Will Hurd’s comments videos that use artificial intelligence to
come days after an altered video giving create realistic-looking videos of real
the false impression that House Speak- people saying things they’ve never said.
er Nancy Pelosi was slurring her words He says government leaders don’t fully
In this May 23, 2019 file photo, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington. spread widely online. understand how the technology could
Associated Press Associated Press journalists did a side- be used in the future.q