How a new database in New Mexico aims to de-escalate police encounters
RichLegg via Getty Images
The state’s Nontraditional Communication Registry helps inform police officers of conditions or disabilities that may impact someone’s ability to interact with law enforcement.
Concerns over how law enforcement personnel interact with neurodivergent people or individuals with cognitive or behavioral disorders has sparked momentum among communities to rethink how to prepare police for nontraditional interactions.
States like New Jersey are experimenting with pairing police officers with mental health professionals, and a growing number of U.S. cities are exploring the impact of alternative response teams that are sent to mental or behavioral distress calls in lieu of police.
New Mexico is taking a tech-based approach with a database launched over the summer that allows residents to share with the state if they have a condition that impacts their ability to communicate. The Nontraditional Communication Registry, signed into law in 2023, aims to inform and prepare police to more effectively interact with drivers or their passengers with certain conditions or disabilities during traffic stops.
Qualifying conditions include autism spectrum disorder, behavioral health disorders, brain injuries, deafness, dementia, intellectual disabilities and seizure disorders, according to the registration form. The form must also be signed by a health care practitioner.
“A law enforcement stop can be a really stressful situation for both the person being pulled over, and anytime a law enforcement officer walks up to a traffic stop, they’re putting themselves in danger [because] they’re not exactly sure what they’ll find when they approach that vehicle,” said Stephanie Schardin Clarke, secretary of taxation and revenue for New Mexico.
Across the U.S., people have experienced and sometimes taken legal action over alleged discrimination from law enforcement personnel over communication complications. In early 2024, for instance, a man sued a local police department in Massachusetts following an altercation during a traffic stop.
David Blevins, a deaf individual who struggles to speak, was stopped for speeding by a police officer and was unable to obtain a pen and paper to alert the officer that he had a legally-obtained gun in the vehicle. The situation led to the arrest of Blevins, who claims there was a lack of communication through written statements or sign language.
New Mexico’s registry aims to prevent and “diffuse a possible point of escalation just because of a simple misunderstanding,” Schardin Clarke said, by alerting officers if a vehicle occupant is noncommunicative or communicates in a different way.
New Mexico residents can sign up when they register a vehicle in the state or by appointment with the Motor Vehicle Division. Their health information is connected to the vehicle registration rather than a person’s driver’s license or identification card, she said.
Officers can then pull up the information in real time on their own devices before interacting with a driver during a traffic stop. Schardin Clarke said that officers cannot see what specific health conditions a person has, but that the system discloses that they have a condition covered by the law.
A similar registry was launched in Florida in early 2024 that allows people with certain developmental, psychological or other disabilities or conditions to enroll themselves with a local police department. Special needs registries are being rolled out at the local level too in states like California, Louisiana, New Jersey and others.
NEXT STORY: Remote learning hurt high school grad rates. Ditching exit exams helped, new research finds