The Columbia Police Department has launched a new program to help residents with special needs called “Project Special Care.”
Police Chief Michael Kelly said Monday, the project is designed to help officers assist citizens with special needs, such as someone on oxygen or autistic, when they are responding to calls.
“Our everyday mission to make sure we are appropriately responding to people with special needs,” Kelly said.
A form is available, Kelly said, that can be picked up at the police department or emailed to a resident who is in need of such notification, to complete and email back to the police department. The information received will be added to a secured law enforcement database that will allow officers to know how to respond to someone once they are on scene. A picture of the individual can be added to the information as well.
There will be a robust protocol in how the database will be used, Kelly said. Not only is it highly protected through law enforcement security, but it will also track who accesses the database within the department.
An example of the information the police department hopes to gather is potential triggers for someone who is autistic. If officers have to respond to a call where someone with special needs is present, they will have be better informed so as not to trigger an anxiety attack and/or they will know how to handle it best, in the event of an episode. If a person is on oxygen and there is a power failure, it will enable the department to know they need to check on them during the outage event.
Kelly said they had a previous situation where a non-verbal child was unable to identify its parents. If the child was registered with the department, the officers would be able to locate the parents and contact them about their child without having any difficulties.
If someone has dementia or Alzheimer’s, a family member can submit the information for their love--d one and if the person has a tracking device, such as an Apple watch, include that on the form. It will help save valuable time should the loved one wander off.
Another way to help is listing any common or regular places the special needs individual tends to go to. If the department has that information, it will enable a quicker response in finding that person.
Kelly said they designed the form to be as user-friendly as possible.
The form is available to pick up at the police department or someone can all the department to have them email it. To have the form emailed, or for more information call (601) 736-8052.
