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Autistic youth face higher risks for experiencing mental health crises. To develop and test a county-level social network measure of care coordination between police departments and other systems that support autistic youth experiencing suicidal crisis.

To measure the structure of care coordination for autistic youth experiencing suicidal crisis, the authors created a roster of all police departments and youth servicing organizations in two East Coast counties in the United States. They met or exceeded the whole network recruitment threshold of 70% completion in both counties. From the data, the authors created a directed matrix for each county of all reported connections, which they used to create sociograms and calculate standard network measures, including indegree, outdegree and total degree for each organization in the network. Data management and processing were done using R-programming and ORA.

Social network findings indicated that about half of all police departments surveyed coordinate care for autistic youth in suicidal crisis. Coordination varied by county, with nonpolice organizations acting as connectors between police and other nonpolice organizations. Two structural configurations were found, including a nonpolice organizational hub structure and a lead police structure. More research is needed to determine how different police integration structures shape care coordination for autistic youth.

Limitations include the small number of counties included in the study. A larger sample of counties is required for generalizable results.

This article introduces new tools and approaches to assist police in building their capacity to measure and improve their coordination of care with other community systems during crisis situations for youth on the autism spectrum. Network science (e.g. matrix and graph theoretic algebra methods) can be used to measure the configuration of relationships police departments have with complex multi-level healthcare systems.

Implications for findings include the consideration of police integration across systems in ways that produce new collaboration possibilities to support autistic youth experiencing suicidal crisis.

While police departments play a critical role in coordinating care for youth in suicidal crisis, little is known if or how police departments collaborate with other systems to provide assistance for autistic youth during a suicidal crisis. Improving care continuity within and between systems could potentially address clinical and structural challenges and reduce risk for autistic youth experiencing a suicidal crisis.

Limited research focuses on the challenges that exist at the intersection of race and dis/ability for Black men on the autism spectrum in encounters with law enforcement. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary to fully comprehend and mitigate the complex challenges. This conceptual article presents Critical Dis/ability (DisCrit) Theory, a framework usually applied to education, as a lens through which to think about encounters between Black autistic men and police officers. The article concludes with recommendations for collaboration between social scientists, police scholars, law enforcement and the public to improve the outcomes of police encounters involving Black men on the autism spectrum.

Using a literature review and analysis of current events, this conceptual article explores the intersections of race and disability, specifically neurodiversity, in policing using Critical Dis/ability (DisCrit) theory, and its predecessors, Intersectionality Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT).

An interdisciplinary approach might be a potential solution to improve police encounters with Black autistic men. Expanding the theoretical frameworks utilized in scholarship about policing might allow for innovative approaches to examine current practices in law enforcement. Collaboration and critical dialogue may yield opportunities for further research and shifts in practice.

This conceptual article uses two incidents from recent events to highlight the need for increased scholarship around the intersections of autism and race, with a particular focus on Black autistic men. It advocates for the use of social science frameworks, namely DisCrit Theory, as a novel way to approach new research regarding race and dis/ability.