WACO, Texas — Tres Jackson is on the autism spectrum. His mom is McLennan County assistant district attorney Anne Jackson.
"Our children and young adults on the spectrum may be acting differently but that doesn't mean there's something wrong with them or that they've broken the law or that they're suspicious. It's the way they behave and the way the communicate," Anne Jackson said.
In the past, she's had to call 911 when her son would run away or disappear and it made her feel anxious because she was worried about how officers would interact with her son.
"I felt that anxiety of 'are they going to understand that he talks differently and moves differently and he doesn't make eye contact and that he has a knife on him,' but it's just because he likes it and not because he's going to hurt anybody," Anne Jackson said.
So she took action. Both her and her son helped get 100 autism sensory kits donated to the Waco Police Department from the District Attorney's Office.
"Folks and families with autism are apprehensive about calling police officers because what we're trained in is a lot of physical force at times," Officer Bradley Delange said.
He got one of the first bags earlier in the year. Delange said he's excited that his fellow officers will be trained to use these tools too.
"They're aware that we understand their world a little bit more and we're able to begin some form of communication with them and help calm their sensory overload," Delange said.
Inside the kit, you'll find items like a non-verbal flip chart of pictures, fidgets and sensory tactile toys for calming, as well as headphones and glasses to help with communication and de-escalation.
Tres Jackson believes this will help people like him feel better when dealing with police.
"If you do see somebody who's on the spectrum, talk to them and let them know that they are understood and they are heard," Tres Jackson said. "It makes me feel really great because I know how much this means to my mother and with the officers that I know who are really great family friends who have helped me in a couple times."
This will make his mom and others with loved ones on the spectrum feel more at ease too.
"We want our Waco police officers to understand that citizens on the autism spectrum behave differently, they move and have eye contact differently, and communicate differently," Jackson said.