On July 15, 2026, at 2:30 pm, in a D.C. Senate office, 10 Capitol Police officers did the one thing that in 2016 could have kept behavior therapist Charles Kinsey from getting shot by police on a North Miami street: they slowed down. A man with severe autism had gone into crisis, the floor was evacuated, and the standoff ended with the autistic man walking out on his own 2 feet, and nobody hurt. That's not luck, that's crisis training.
Read what happened, and why Miami-Dade families should know how our county handles the same call.
Today's Edition Includes
Zack's story
Miami-Dade County: Occupant with Autism Program
Autism & Special Needs Decal Programs across 6 city police departments
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Victor Antunez β’ (305) 401-6224
Real Estate Professional π Autism Dadvocate
PS. If buying or selling a home has been on your mind lately, and you want to talk it through, feel free to text me anytime at (305) 401-6224.
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Why Miami-Dade Trains Its Police for Autism Calls, and How Happy Endings Are Becoming More Common
π From left to right: Deb, Cristina, Zack, and Jim, preparing for what they thought would be their initial meeting in the Hart Senate Building.
Zack is 25, nonverbal, has severe autism, and needs 24/7 support. He's also 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs nearly 300 pounds. He'd come from Connecticut with his parents, Jim and Deb, to tell Senator Chris Murphy's staff why Medicaid has to change for families like theirs. Then a conference room got double-booked, the meeting he'd prepared for vanished, and Zack went into crisis. He banged on the glass doors of the office, the floor was evacuated, and 10 officers surrounded the room.
This is how it ended. The officers didn't rush Zack. They stood posted in the doorway while Jim and Deb fed Zack gummy bears and staffers finally heard his pitch. When it was over, Zack walked out on his own 2 feet, past the police, past a news camera, down the hall to the exit. Nobody was hurt. That's what it looks like when a call doesn't go sideways.
Miami-Dade knows the other version of that story. On July 18, 2016, in North Miami, Arnaldo Rios Soto, a man with severe autism, sat in the street holding a silver toy truck. His behavior therapist, Charles Kinsey, lay on his back next to him with his hands in the air, telling officers it was a toy and that his client had wandered from a group home. An officer fired 3 times, aiming at Rios Soto and hitting Kinsey in the leg. No weapon was ever found. That case is why so much of what protects South Florida families today exists.
In 2021, Commissioner Raquel Regalado passed a resolution requiring autism training across county offices, and first responders were included. The training is a joint initiative between the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) and Autism Safety 101, Inc., the organization founded by Bart Barta, a retired Coral Gables police commander and the father of an adult with autism. Barta leads the sessions himself. Law enforcement training runs 8 hours, Fire Rescue runs 4, and both use lecture, video, scenarios, role-play, and direct interaction with autistic individuals. As of the latest count, more than 2,700 Miami-Dade Sheriffβs Office deputies and more than 1,100 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue firefighters have completed it in person.
The County Program: Register, Get a Decal, Get Flagged in Dispatch
The county paired the training with something a family can hold in their hand. In April 2024, Miami-Dade launched the Occupant with Autism Program. Free decals for your front door and your car's rear window, and a dispatch flag on your address, so an officer knows before they step out of the cruiser that the person they're about to meet may not answer the way they expect.
You register online, then pick up the decals at your local Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office district station. If you don't want a decal on the home, you can request zero decals and just keep the dispatch flag.
Miami-Dade County Occupant with Autism Program: miamidade.govβ
If You Live in These Cities, You Have a Program Too
Several municipalities inside Miami-Dade run their own registries in addition to the county's. Same idea, dispatched by your city's police department:
If your city isn't listed, the county program still covers you.
What Just Changed at the State Level
On July 1, 2026, Florida SB 418 took effect. It expands what officers learn, de-escalation, how to locate someone with autism who's eloped, how the Baker Act applies, and it creates the Blue Envelope and Blue Card Program. Starting January 1, 2027, a driver on the spectrum can request a blue envelope or card from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles or the tax collector's office, holding their license, registration, insurance, and a card that tells the officer at the window exactly who they're talking to.
Where to request one starting January 1, 2027:
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles: flhsmv.govβ