Secaucus Officer Manente Creates Town's First-Ever Autism Registry

SECAUCUS, NJ — It all started with the 911 call of a 5-year-old wandering alone through the parking lot of XChange last April.

Secaucus Police Officer Salvatore Manente responded that night, as did other officers. They were able to locate the boy, and he was unharmed, except they had a major problem: How to locate his parents in the apartment complex of more than 1,000 residents.

Compounded by the fact that:

"You could tell the child had autism. He could not speak and he was not making eye contact with us. So he could not tell us where he lived or where his parents were," said Manente. "Thankfully, another family was in the area that knew the child and they helped us get him back to his parents."

That 911 call led Manente to an idea: The Secaucus Police Department needed a registry of all town residents with special needs, particularly children and teens with autism. This registry includes older adults who may have Alzheimer's or dementia and anyone police officers should know may have trouble communicating, or needs extra care in a crisis.

You can see what Manente created here: https://www.cognitoforms.com/S... and it includes a photo of the registrant and all contact info. for their family, plus places they may wander to should they get lost, and if they have any specific behaviors.

Manente proposed the idea, was approved by his superiors and worked nights and weekends researching what other towns had done.

"Before I became a police officer, I had experience working with people with autism," he said. He worked as a teaching assistant in a day camp for people with special needs. "So I know how difficult it is for people who are non verbal. They cannot communicate. Police need to know this."

So far, he says the registry has about 30 people, but he encourages anyone in town to fill it out if they have a loved one with special needs.

Manente has not stopped there. He makes it a point to attend town or county events with special-needs attendees to tell people about the registry. He even put together kits officers can use when dealing with people with special needs.

"He saw a need and he came up with a solution," said Police Chief Dennis Miller. "His efforts will better the department for years to come. It lessens the affects a crisis may have on our most vulnerable residents."

For this reason, Manente and Lt. Christopher Rinaldi were honored this past Tuesday night with the Secaucus Police Community Service award. Lt. Rinaldi also worked to create the registry, and participates in the Skate with a Cop, Torch Run, blood drives and holiday toy drive — all to further improve police-community relations.