Alice Police Clerk with Autism Challenges Misconceptions, Proves Lasting Career Possible

Only 16% of adults with autism have held a full-time job for a year or more. Manuel Munoz, 27, is closing in on four at the Alice Police Department.

Munoz serves as records clerk for the department, a role he has held since 2023 after starting as a dispatcher in 2022. His duties cover the unglamorous backbone of police work: organizing critical documents, entering data into department systems, and keeping records accessible to officers and the public. He also steps in when dispatch gets overloaded with calls and greets walk-ins at the front of the station.

"I also assist dispatch whenever they get calls they can't receive," Munoz said. "And talk to people walking in. In case they need to make a report or pick up a report, or if they need help with anything else, like speak to an officer about an issue they have."

That range of responsibilities cuts against a persistent assumption about autism in the workplace. Nationwide, the unemployment rate for adults with autism runs between 85% and 90%, with only 32% of autistic adults employed at all, compared to more than 70% of the general adult population. Munoz is familiar with the stereotype, and his tenure at the Alice PD has become his answer to it.

"The fact that I've been here almost four years is something I'm most proud of," he said. "I feel like it's a misconception that people say, 'Autistic people can't maintain a job for very long.'"

The communication demands of a police department front desk are not trivial, and Munoz has not minimized the challenge. "As someone with autism, I was always mostly a quiet person. Sometimes it's hard to talk, especially a little louder. Sometimes I speak a little quietly," he said. He has learned to navigate those hurdles, guided in part by a philosophy he applies daily: keeping calm, because the people walking through that door may be carrying burdens that are not immediately visible.

The CDC's ADDM Network, drawing on 2022 surveillance data, found that about 1 in 31 children, roughly 3.2%, are now identified with autism spectrum disorder, up from 1 in 36 in prior reporting cycles. As that share of the population grows, so does the urgency of building workplaces that can accommodate neurodivergent employees. Yet only 34% of adults with autism report feeling well-supported at work, a figure that makes inclusive employers like the Alice Police Department, led by Chief Eden Garcia, increasingly consequential.

Munoz's message, offered during Autism Awareness Month this April, is aimed squarely at employers weighing that decision: "Give them a chance and they'll surprise you. They may have qualities no one else might have and they'll overcome the challenges they are facing and meet up to your expectations."

In Alice, a South Texas city of 17,891 that serves as the county seat of Jim Wells County, Munoz shows up each day to a job that asks him to organize records, absorb overflow calls, and be the first face a rattled member of the public sees. He has done it for nearly four years. He plans to keep going.