Our Aims

To support members of the police and criminal justice community with an interest in autism and neurodiversity

Our primary aim is to support our members: we host the Police Neurodiversity Forum, a safe online space for peer support, discussion and information-sharing. In addition, we maintain a network of Coordinators – champions in police forces across the UK who can provide confidential advice and signposting.

We are here for all members of the extended police family with a personal or professional interest in autism and other neurodivergent conditions.

To encourage a culture of neurodiversity in the police service

More than ever, the UK police service needs staff who can ‘think differently’, to fully represent the communities it serves and to help meet the challenges of policing in the 21st century. We believe that police forces should identify individual strengths, guiding officers and staff into roles and career paths in which they can excel and achieve their full potential.

Our members work with the NPCC, College of Policing, Police Federation, individual police forces and other stakeholders to act as a ‘critical friend’ and assist with developing neurodiverse-friendly policies.

To promote and share best practices around autism awareness and service delivery

We want to to ensure that all members of public are treated with sensitivity, understanding and respect when coming into contact with the police, whether as a victim of crime, witness or suspect. We promote autism awareness training for frontline officers and sharing of good practices already adopted by police forces, to ensure that people with autism spectrum conditions receive the same high standard of service regardless of which Force area they live in.

An example of best practice we promote is the custody toolkit developed by the University of Nottingham and the Nottingham Autism Police Partnership.

To inform the public about autism and neurodiversity within policing, and to champion good work by police forces in supporting the autistic community

Our message is simple and powerful: there are many police officers who understand autism and other neurodivergent conditions from a personal perspective, and there is much unsung good work done for members of public affected by these conditions.

We are committed to improving the reporting, recording and investigation of disability hate crime (which autistic people are particularly vulnerable to), and we champion and publicise police action against this type of crime.