By Katie Gagliano
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
LAFAYETTE, La. — The Lafayette Police Department has launched a new community opt-in program for residents to share information about loved ones with disabilities or neurological conditions that make it difficult for them to communicate in the event they get lost or wander away.
The program, called the Lafayette Area Special Residents database, is intended to highlight residents of all ages with conditions or disabilities that make it difficult or impossible for them to verbally communicate with first responders, like autism, Alzheimer’s or a traumatic brain injury.
The project was the brainchild of Lafayette Police Sgt. Raymond Overby, a 20-year department veteran who is also a parent of a son with autism.
Overby, a patrol sergeant, said over his 15 years on patrol he’s routinely encountered people with disabilities or neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s who have wandered away from home, school or an outing with a caretaker and either can’t or won’t communicate and don’t have identification on them, making it difficult to return them to safety.
Overby and his wife, who works for Acadian Ambulance, once worked four similar cases between them in one week, he said.
The patrol sergeant said that’s not typically a concern with his son, who he described as high functioning, but he and his wife have met families through therapy programs whose children are nonverbal or have difficulty communicating and fear those situations.
“As a normal parent, you’re always worried about losing your kid. But when you know your kid has special medical problems and stuff like that and that kid can’t talk to anybody or doesn’t know what’s going on, it’s really, really scary for a parent,” Overby said.
Reflecting on his personal and professional experiences led to the database idea, he said.
The patrol sergeant said officers have attempted to educate one another about people they’ve encountered through email or notes in the past, but it was hard to keep track of the shared information because it was decentralized.
Overby said he initially conceptualized the database as a folder on the police department’s server where officers could compile all the notes they were sharing, but after conversations with Chief Judith Estorge and her assistant, Capt. Craig Mouton, the concept grew larger.
With help from Lafayette Consolidated Government’s IT department, the database is now a GIS map that can be accessed by all emergency responders in the parish, including firefighters, paramedics and EMTs, sheriff’s deputies and other municipal officers.
The database sign-up form collects information such as basic demographic information, a passport-style photo, contact information for caregivers, relevant addresses for places the person may have wandered from, details on diagnoses, and notes on triggers and calming techniques, Lafayette Police Capt. Craig Mouton said.
The idea is that if an officer, firefighter or paramedic finds a person wandering on their own they can check the database to try to identify the person and get them back to a safe place or caretaker more quickly and with less disruption to the individual, he said.
“A key, a big key, is what will calm them down in the event they’re very excited or in a posture that they will not speak. Is there anything that we can do? Some people are good with plush toys, or some kind of communication topic like sports that might get them to open up,” Mouton said.
The department has shared the registration flyer on its social media platforms and distributed flyers at the department’s main station, precincts and to partners, like therapy clinics. The registration link is also available on the police department’s mobile app, which launched in the fall, Mouton said.
While the database primarily applies to people who live in Lafayette Parish, Overby said the department recognizes Lafayette is a medical hub for the region with specialty providers and clinics. Families from outside the parish that bring loved ones routinely to Lafayette for care or programs are also invited to submit their information, he said.
“If it helps one kid get home, I’m happy. I just want these people to be safe,” Overby said.
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