The Metropolitan Police must be trained to recognise autism

To someone who has never knowingly encountered autism it can be both puzzling and perplexing. Some reactions or behaviours may appear paradoxical or even perverse to the lay observer. The desire to avoid contact, an apparent lack of appropriate fears while other events or objects may seem to evoke enormous - yet seemingly unfounded - anxiety may be quite striking. A physical appearance of so-called normality may be juxtaposed with a lack of communication, unexpected behaviour, an intense interest in activities that may not be expected in someone of that age or even of any age.

Should we be equally perplexed by the apparently perverse behaviour of the Metropolitan Police who are really quite put out by High Court Judge Sir Robert Nelson's finding that manhandling and cuffing ZH, a young person with autism, was unlawful? Could they not just have been puzzled and perplexed by ZH's behaviour as anyone else walking in off the street might be? After all, the police are only human and, when all's said and done, look at what they have to do. Would you do it?