It’s difficult to judge the actions of police who are responding to volatile and sometimes dangerous situations with little, if any, information.

That’s why a bill being proposed by Sen. Phil Bartlett, D-Scarborough, makes a lot of sense.

Bartlett’s bill would require that police officers receive training in how to deal with developmentally disabled people, as Scarborough police had to do last March when they got an emergency call about two young women who were involved in a stabbing in the woods outside the library.

Denise Kring, the mother of one of the girls, said when her daughter Barbara called 911, she reported the stabbing in a monotone. And, when police arrived at the scene, Barbara Kring did not appear to understand the seriousness of the situation. She didn’t appear to understand that she was injured and didn’t request help for herself, even though she had been stabbed in the back and throat.

Barbara Kring has Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism. People with Asperger’s Syndrome can exhibit a variety of characteristics, and the disorder can range from mild to severe. Those with Asperger’s Syndrome often have deficient social skills. They have difficulty reading body language. They can be overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells and lights.

Barbara Kring’s interactions with police that day might have led them to a faulty conclusion. Police originally thought she had been involved in a suicide pact with the 15-year-old girl she was with that day, Lyndsey McLaughlin.

Since that day, the district attorney has charged McLaughlin with elevated aggravated assault and attempted murder. It’s still not entirely clear what happened that day. District Attorney Stephanie Anderson, at one point, said she had conflicting reports about it. She had enough, however, to charge McLaughlin with attempted murder, which is far from a suicide pact.

It’s hard to know whether training of the sort that Bartlett’s bill would require would have helped police that day. In fact, it’s hard to believe a few hours of training would help police in a situation as confusing as that one must have been.

However, one thing is clear: It couldn’t hurt.

Police need all the training they can get going into emergency situations. The people they deal with are distressed, confused, angry, hysterical, suicidal, intoxicated, violent, and, in some cases, disabled. Dealing with all those conditions in an endless variety of circumstances is a job few people envy.

More and more children are being diagnosed with autism, or some form of it, every day. It’s a disturbing trend that’s made even more troubling because doctors and scientists aren’t sure why. It’s possible that medical professionals are just more familiar with the characteristics and, therefore, are more able to diagnose the disorders. If that’s the case, that knowledge should trickle down to other professions that can use it.

We urge anyone who agrees to attend a public hearing on the proposed bill in Augusta. Voices from those who have experience dealing with people with autism or some form of the disorder could be particularly important that day. The hearing will take place in room 436 at the State House at 10 a.m. Jan. 23. Those who can’t make it to the hearing should contact a local legislator to urge them to support the bill.

Brendan Moran, editor