FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WSMV) - Police departments from across Middle Tennessee are learning new ways to protect and serve people with autism through a groundbreaking training program that launched this week in Franklin.

The two-day conference comes as new research from Vanderbilt shows the number of children in Tennessee diagnosed with autism has doubled over the past decade, creating an urgent need for specialized law enforcement training.

“We deal with these situations all the time. Whether it be a missing person or just somebody who is overstimulated,” said Dillon Lipinski, a major crimes detective with the Franklin Police Department. “I am just trying to help people better understand autism and how to respond to it effectively.”

The issue hits close to home for Lipinski, who has a son wit

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