Montgomery County Police Autism/IDD Unit

05/13/2026

This wonderful officer, Amy Homrock will be retiring soon. This unit is so lucky to have so many that jump in when needed to help out our Autism/IDD community, especially in our schools. Officer Homrock was always looking out for our most precious kiddos. She not only looked out for her Churchill HS students but always assisted us in presenting at Damascus High School. We are happy to see our “hometown” hero being honored.

We are recognizing our hometown heroes!

Many officers on the Montgomery County Police Department grew up in our community and took the oath to protect and serve the communities they grew up in.

Today we feature Officer Amy Homrock, who grew up in Potomac and is now serving the Churchill High School cluster as the school's Community Engagement Officer.

If you have the heart of service and want to join our team, visit: www.joinmcp.com

Join Montgomery County PD

05/09/2026

A little late notice but Officer Miranda and her Spanish speaking skills 🙂 is all set up at the Fire Rescue Safety day at the MCPS Building…
850 Hungerford Drive Rockville. We will be there until 3PM. We will be providing wandering safety info.

04/21/2026

Just last week, MCPD handled 25 calls for service for those who have autism/IDD, leading our unit to provide follow up. These calls range from those in crisis to those that have wandered. In most of our wandering calls, police or citizens locate the child or adult before caregivers are calling to report. I share these stats so that our community is aware that they could come in contact with a child or adult who has wandered and might be in need.
Call 911 right away if your loved one wanders but ALSO as a community member, if you see someone you feel may have wandered and be in need, call 911 to report. Explain to the 911 caller what you are seeing, provide good updates of where the child/adult is located and if possible, stay with the child. Our unit has been in service over twenty years and we are seeing more calls now then we have ever seen.
Share with those in your community who care for an individual who has autism or any other intellectual or developmental disability the below unit safety brochure.
Our department and the resources we use on these calls are all educated and experienced in ensuring these calls have a positive outcome. Calling 911 right away if your loved one is missing is so important.

Again, so many are being found before caregivers are calling to report. This doesn’t mean this is a bad caregiver, wandering can happen to the best of caregivers. Don’t want to call 911.

Our brochure has a 911 script, knowing what to share with 911 is important.
Our brochure has a neighbor letter as it’s important, if you feel comfortable, to also share with neighbors so they can keep an eye out.

Reach out if you need us.
Officer Laurie Reyes
Officer Bond
Retired Officer Stoughton

04/11/2026

There is always discussions on the use of technology to enhance safety in the autism/IDD community. Next Gen 911 is a great tool that all should be familiar with from caregivers, individuals and the community. This is a great resource for so many. Please take the time to view this webinar provided by our partners at Pathfinders for Autism

Discover how Next Gen 9-1-1 is transforming emergency response for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Learn how features like texting 911, sharing images, and improved location accuracy can help first responders better serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Click the link to register https://bit.ly/4e7uSLz

04/09/2026

This webinar is great to share with caregivers. We have stayed consistent in our 3-8 calls a week for wandering. In almost all calls citizens or officers locate the child before caregivers call to report. Please don’t wait to call 911. Also important to share after a recent call today at a school for a missing kiddo, please make sure the person who is following the student also calls 911 to immediately update the location. We know that this might not always be an option but work with school staff to feel confident to also call 911 to update the location of the student in real time. Of course, that is so stressful and may be challenging but work on staff knowing to call 911, the staff who is with the student. This student traveled quite a distance today.

The statistics are frightening. 49% of children with Autism and 26.7 individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities elope (often from a safe environment), more than 1/3 cannot communicate their name, address or phone number, and 71% of deaths related to wandering are caused by drowning.

This webinar addresses:
reasons why individuals might elope
safety preventive measures parents and caregivers can put into place
what information is most beneficial for police if your loved one goes missing. https://bit.ly/3holmDG

04/06/2026

April Update:
Almost 300 follow ups in 2026 This is 100 more than this time last year.
We ended 2025 with 987 total follow ups.
This year will certainly be over 1000.
Almost all of our follow ups come from calls for service, or officer referrals. These are calls for service from wandering and elopement to an individual who may be in crisis.
Our unit acts proactively by conducting community presentations, school assembly’s, classroom visits, coalition partnering, and more.
Our unit outreach consists of training, empowerment, follow up, presentations and response.
It’s so important to share that when a call to 911 is made, it is our well trained patrol officers taking these initial calls. They may respond in collaboration with other units, our crisis response officers, managed search team officers, but the initial response is patrol. They handle, on average, 30-50 calls a month for those who have autism/IDD.
Conducting follow ups after calls for service is something we have done since the unit began twenty years ago. This follow up can consist of, a phone call, home visit, safety kit drop off, and coordination of other resources, MCPS, APS,CPS, Pathfinders for Autism, Down Syndrome Network and soooo many more.
We track all of our work, especially the follow ups, as another way to determine where we may need to focus our efforts.
I share this as we work to put our awareness into action, 365 days a year.
Reach out to us anytime.
Take a look at our unit safety brochure and please share with anyone who may need this information.
Always call 911 right away if your loved one is missing.

02/23/2026

Hey, we know those two! Even my mom’s Ford Focus makes an appearance. We will be scheduling our super informative, super fun, mock traffic stops here in MOCO soon but in the meantime, these are worth sharing in other areas. You can listen to Officer Bond and I, along with Shelly from Pathfinders on the associated driver safety webinar.
Please always consider, if you feel comfortable sharing, if you get pulled over, that you are a driver with a disability or that your passenger may have a disability. We do our part in educating the officers and the community but it can go a long way if you disclosed to the officers any accommodations you may need.
We also offer window clings for the car if you have a loved one that may be traveling in your car that may not be able to respond in an emergency. We also offer those window clings as we see calls from time to time where a person who has a disability may be in crisis enough to distract a driver. That can lead to police being called or needed. The window cling is another layer to let officers know that a person in the vehicle may be in need. Awareness is key. We do understand that all of these suggestions are a personal choice. It goes on the same line as the disability butterfly on the license or the use of the MVA Blue Envelope. Understanding can be accomplished without compromising independence if we all work together.

https://pathfindersforautism.org/traffic-stop-resources/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAQJe3dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeJPcweeku3GxBZwl3c6zZuFZw9iRT6KQWmXrpwciK_DfeU9auxD9IH3WGxm8_aem_mNQ4li-ah3Jm_LmLe5H5Hg

Pathfinders for Autism has Traffic Stop Practice Sessions planned all over Maryland this spring. Click the link to sign up and participate. All drivers and passengers are welcome! https://bit.ly/49DkhT8

02/22/2026

It’s been my experience that the siblings of those who have autism/IDD tend to be incredible humans. So often, they put their own needs behind those of their brother or sister. We also see siblings who have little to no resources or understanding of navigating care when parents may be gone. Consider tuning into to this presentation as a parent or a sibling.

Talking with Adult Children about Long-term Support of a Sibling with a Disability
February 25, 2026 from 7:00-8:30PM - Virtual by Zoom
Free to attend, but registration is required. This is offered in English and Spanish simultaneously.
https://bit.ly/3LZp23x

02/11/2026

We love an old school thank you letter 🙂 It will take all of us to keep our kiddos that wander safe, police, parents and our community. We can average 3-8 calls a week for our those that may wander. The chances of our community seeing a person who has wandered is ever increasing.
Please call 911 if your loved one wanders and also call 911 if you see a person in the community that appears to have wandered or are in need. A wonderful community member and mom stopped recently for a child who had wandered. She stayed with the child and called 911.
This child has wandered before and received our wandering resources/safety kit. We continue to work with this family at home and school. I’ll include a link to our wandering safety brochures in English, Spanish and Amharic. Please share with anyone who may be in need of the information.
Scroll down the webpage and you will find the PDF brochures which contain all of our suggestions on wandering prevention.
Our contact info is on the back page.
Thank you again to this incredible mom and community member.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pol/howdoI/autism-alzheimer-outreach.html

01/23/2026

Might be a good webinar to attend if you have a loved one interested in driving. We also partner with Pathfinders in the drivers/passengers “mock traffic stop” classes. You can find info on those classes as well as the webinar on their website. I’ll add the link in the comments below.

Join licensed occupational therapist and certified driving rehab specialist Heather Ackart for a session designed to help parents support their child’s first steps toward driving. Learn practical, strengths-based strategies to build confidence, foster independence, and practice foundational driving skills from the passenger seat. Click the link to register https://bit.ly/4pR3Dai