Police and prosecutors would receive mandatory training on how to interact with people with developmental disabilities, under a bill proposed by Sen. Phil Bartlett.

Scarborough resident Denise Kring urged Bartlett, D-Scarborough, to introduce the bill after her daughter Barbara, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, was stabbed outside of the library last March by Lyndsey McLaughlin.

Asperger’s Syndrome is one of five neurological disorders that falls into the category of autism spectrum disorders. Autism is another one of the five disorders.

Kring feels if police had been properly trained in handling people with developmental disabilities they might have been able to communicate better with her daughter on the day of the stabbing and might have drawn different conclusions initially.

Police first believed Barbara Kring was involved in a suicide pact, but the district attorney later charged McLaughlin with elevated aggravated assault and attempted murder.

“The police need to know how to interact with people with these disabilities,” she said. “The more training the police departments get with disabilities then maybe the less likely they would be to jump to conclusions.”

Scarborough police did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

U.S. Probation Officer Matt Brown is assisting Kring and Bartlett with their work. Brown offers volunteer training on dealing with developmentally disabled people to police, park rangers, firefighters, and emergency rescue workers. The course also is available to prosecutors, although none have taken the training yet.

“If the academy is going to spend 1.5 hours on Alzheimer’s disease, you should spend the same amount of time on autism,” Brown said.

John Rogers, director of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, said the academy offers a three hour class for basic law enforcement on the Americans with Disabilities Act, and in 2007, that training will be a mandatory for all law enforcement as part of their continuing training.

The training covers a wide variety of disabilities, although autism is not specifically mentioned. The objectives of the training program include instructing officers on what the disabilities are under the Americans with Disabilities Act, identifying symptoms of disability that might mimic criminal behavior, and proper techniques in dealing with disabled people.

Rogers said the idea of holding a stand-alone autism training program has been considered, but most felt it was better to include it under the ADA training. Rogers said he has not had a chance to formulate an opinion on Bartlett’s bill and could not comment on it.

Brown, who has an autistic child, said his training program has generated some interest, and at most sessions, at least one person has had some experience with autism.

With more people being diagnosed with autism, Brown said it’s important to give police a better understanding of the challenges developmentally disabled people face.

“The level of interest doesn’t meet the level of the problem,” Brown said.

Police officers are currently trained to handle any number of situations, ranging from domestic violence to assisting the mentally ill, but those with developmental disabilities are not mentally ill, Kring said.

Those with autism display certain characteristics that police sometimes identify as non compliance, but, in fact, are caused by the disability. Often times, police believe they are on drugs, Brown said.

According to a Web site explaining Brown’s training, many people with autism have specific sensitivities to light, sound, or touch. Others might avoid eye contact or have difficulty understanding what people are saying.

The training will better equip police in dealing with these types of differences. It also might help them better understand that how an autistic person perceives a situation might not be what one would normally expect.

Kring said a perfect example is the incident involving her daughter, who called 911 after the stabbing and reported it to authorities in a monotone voice, which was misunderstood.

When emergency personnel arrived at the scene, Barbara Kring did not understand the seriousness of the situation or even that she was injured and did not request help for herself.

“Throwing questions at someone with developmental disabilities is not the way to go,” Kring said. “They can’t handle that much chaos.”

Brown encourages parents of autistic children to provide information to local police for entry into the 911 database so a dispatcher can relay the information to officers.

He also tells parents to instruct their children on how to behave around police, such as not running or putting their hands in their pockets.

A public hearing on the bill is scheduled for Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. in room 436 at the State House. Bartlett said it will be hard to know what chance the bill has of passing until the hearing, but he said he feels it has a good chance of passing.

Bartlett and Kring also proposed legislation that would change the juvenile code. Currently it does not include any type of mandatory treatment or punishment for juvenile offenders who plead not criminally responsible by reason of insanity. McLaughlin is not expected to receive any punishment, if she pleads guilty later this month.

Bartlett’s proposal did not make it past the Legislative Executive Council, but he is expecting to bring it forward again.