Currently, frontline officers typically receive little training specific to FASD, although people with FASD are overrepresented in the wider group of justice-involved persons. While there is a push for FASD-focused training for frontline police, training time is limited. The following are suggested management strategies to help improve overall FASD understanding in practical ways:
- Implement mandatory short “block or watch” trainings about the disability focused on strategies for frontline officers to understand and respond to behaviors. Delivery could be 10-15 minute mini-presentations.
- Develop, possibly in collaboration with a local agency with experience working with people with FASD, a full day training or a train-the-trainer model for overall understanding of the disability across the frontline.
- Consider modest changes to professional standards to support FASD-informed practices. Interventions appropriate for FASD can have benefit to persons with other brain-based disabilities, for example people with autism spectrum disorders or people with other brain-based disabilities or brain injuries.
- Modify interview rooms, including by altering the lighting and removing posters or other items on the walls, to accommodate for sensory challenges.
- Create internal resources, and identify subject matter experts so when a police officer suspects an individual may have complex needs such as those associated with FASD, there are supports to assist the officer to execute a successful investigation that is FASD-informed.