Westfield Police Complete Autism Training

WESTFIELD, NJ - All sworn officers in the Westfield Police Department completed autism awareness training through POAC Autism Services, according to officials.

According totheir website, POAC offers a multitude of training opportunities throughout the state of New Jersey. They are run in locations throughout the state during the week and on weekends in an effort to meet the varied scheduling requirements of anyone involved with teaching and caring for those with autism. All workshops have applications for a variety of developmental disabilities across varied environments. POAC’s workshops are available to parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, direct services providers, and administrators. All workshops require registration and are almost always offered with no fee to participants.

According to the Westfield Police, resident Christine Rosen made the training possible by bringing the training to them.

POAC has trained over 65,000 first responders to date.

POAC Executive Director Gary Weitzen said people always ask how are they able to accomplish everything they do.

"I simply state: 'We do it because it has to be done,'" he said.

In the first picture is Rosen with her daughter, Claire, Weitzen, and several Westfield Police officers following the completion of the last training session. In the second picture, Chief Christopher Battiloro is with Rosen after she was presented with a Westfield Police Department sweatshirt with our Autism Awareness police patch.

(Photos courtesy of the Westfield Police Department)

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