Can Aspies Work in the Police Force?

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It can work out. See this news story ...

Autistic police sergeant in Bath

What about the British Transport Police?

They usually are involved in all aspects of policing regarding railways...

I do not know if they employ anyone on the spectrum, but it is certainly worth checking out.

My student wants to be a detective, nothing else will do

Update: My student informed me this week that after prolific discussions with his friends he has decided that he is not suitable to be a detective/police officer. He does however have the misconception that he can be a volunteer cop/ detective and I had to tell him that they deal mainly with traffic and neighborhood watch.

I've taken some Krav Maga also. He may be good as a detective due to ASP/ASD and the detail orientation. Is he religious? Is it the orthodox that get waivers from IDF service?

He is volunteering in the IDF at present. He has 100% disability. Some orthodox volunteer for the army, but it's not compulsory yet.
He loves Krav Maga it is helping him with coordination and self confidence.
I doubt that he would be accepted into the police academy but I would never tell him that.

Some of the many subgroups within IDF have super high standards. They are elite.

Yes! The extent of my students' disability means that he is doing basically menial jobs.
I have many friends in elite units though.

I've only just noticed this. Critical thinking is often taught in media studies. It's about questioning everything with the right kind of questions, without involving your judgement on the emotional bias of others and very importantly yourself.

It's picking out the facts in a text or speech, and weeding out irrelevant information, especially when the speaker misleads the listener through emotional bias, manipulative words and non-facts portrayed as facts. Which happens all the time. It's very easy to see how misleading advertising is for example. Yet most people are fooled by it, which I can't understand as a critical thinker.

Last edited by smudge on 08 Feb 2020, 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

Kinda sounds like that is for the best.

Hell maybe with how naive he is, it would be best to stay away from military and police positions as that can be much more dangerous than more civilian type positions. I mean I realize you want him to live his dreams but sounds like the guy is pretty disabled and maybe not fit for more dangerous lines of work anyways.

Whatever he does I wish him the best. He will be an asset to a future organization with his determination as you described. I've known some people that were in the IDF (especially in Krav Maga). I used to hang out with a lady that was an IDF soldier. They have the respect of virtually everyone I know. (I know how to read and write Ivrit, modern-speak a little difficult).

some cops major in Criminal Justice, psychology, or government.

some colleges don't offer those majors. but some social sciences close to it.

the world contains a lot of Aspies. the world contains a lot of cops. they overlap in a Venn diagram.

the world contains more than two Aspie cops.

due to sensory overload, constant change, bad at driving, stress, verbal and nonverbal communication, working for police force sounds like a bad job for Aspies. however, different aspies have different personalities and skills. every Aspie is different. different cops have different job descriptions.

furthermore, the world does not contain many jobs suited for Aspies outside STEM and trades.

so cops or military might be the least wrong job.


having said that, there is something wrong with everything

I don't make a habit of outing myself, but I have an AS diagnosis and Ive worked in the field for 15 years. Prior to that I was in the military. I don't wear a giant puzzle piece t-shirt everywhere I go, but a few co-workers have their suspicions. I'm a member of TNS and have no issues with my roles and responsibilities, and am generally respected as a smart oddball that is good at his job and kind of a dick. If we can celebrate members of the trans community as being officers, then Aspies should have their own niche as well.

Depending on the severity, AS is not necessarily a disqualifier for law enforcement. The general psych test covers mental health issues, but AS/ASD isn't a mental illness. It can have comorbidity, but it isn't something that is diagnosed with a multiple choice test. If you have learned traits to camoflage behavior, it would probably go unnoticed.

Policing isn't really like film and TV make it out to be, and ends up being more routine than anything else. You spend most of your time alone or with a singular partner. I've worked with about half a dozen or so Detectives over the last decade-and-a-half that are on the Spectrum. Not in the BS "everybody is on the Spectrum" way of thinking, but observable repetitive behavior, hyper focus on special interests, meltdowns...it's not my place to out someone or ask them if they have been diagnosed, but it's there.

The issue will be the level of how severe his AS is, and the stigma of Asperger's and Autism. If he can do a mandatory stint in patrol, investigative work suites Aspies very well. Motivation and Patterns stand out like a sore thumb and it offers a different perspective most people don't have.

The caveat to this is it isn't for everyone. We had an Officer about a twelve years ago that made it through the Academy and had two Master Degrees and a social communication disorder. He took everything literal, and it ended up being a poor fit for him.

I'd love to do that, always have done.

Here is something to consider. I was watching a talk on youtube given by a professor who subject was about autism and he said that if he took random groups of the public from anywhere in the workd and assessed them (As they tried this) 6% of those assessed would be found to be on the spectrum, but when you look at the officially diagnosed figures, the western world has the highest percent and it is around 2% at the most in the countries who assess the most people. (The official figures where they say things like "Only 1% of our population is on the spectrum"... Well. Should be a concern).

But anyway, going back on topic, he had one of his autistic patients apply for the police force and he was rejected saying tat no way could someone with autism be considered on the police force. He contacted them and said "Look. 6% of all the population has autism. That means that most of your top detectives are likely to be held by as yet undiagnosed autistic people". I think the ones in charge were embarissed incase thwy were going to be assessed by him so they let the young man have a job, which he did for a couple of years before he decided on a career change in another line of work.

But it does go to show how many as yet undiagnosed people there are out there, and how many professional positions they hold, as it tends to be only the ones who have hit significent issues in life, and who (If like me could have been silently puzzled why one is not able to lead a life like other people... Not that one exactly wants to if a few examples are to go by! Haha! But you get the idea... And after of years of looking for answers I found autism, where I 100% know I have some noticeable traits... Ooh, I can't ignore one or two! Haha. But this does not mean I am on the spectrum. Awaiting assessment to find out...) may only find out by chance discovery rather then a health professional being able to pick up on it. (It is not an easy thing to spot if one is an NT but somehow it is easier to spot if one is already experiencing traits as one sees similarities?)

Anyway... While autism is a hidden issue for many, I do feel for those who may have gone through life suffering and not having a clue why. It is an aweful experience to be in as, if one finds out one may have autism and knows one has a few traits, at least one can then start to understand what's happening. To me there is nothong worse then suffering and not knowing the reason why, as one really has a hard time... Accusations from those who assume one is purpously acting up... Usual stuff... But it can, after a while really make one feel like a second class citizen as one has no way to defend oneself until one discovers what has been going on. I have soo often felt like the ugly duckling.
Come to think of it, when we were read that story when I was very young and in primary school, I straight away identified with the ugly duckling as if it was me!

But now I am going off on tanents again so I better end my reply...

I don't either since I don't care for titles, adulation, nor anything else. Possibly TMI/PI. I was also in the military --4 deployments & joint training...

The co-morbidities to ASD can be many which could interfere with decision making, loyalties, thought life being somewhere else, etc.. I've taken similar testing in working for a department of the Army which focused on national loyalties to put it in an ambiguous way.

I've pm'ed a reponse to this one GuyIncognito. Due to the nature of similar background, I've left it out of the forum <TMPI>.