From the AP/Chicago Tribune:

A new “premise alert program” allows families in some areas of Illinois to share information about medical problems and disabilities with local police and fire departments. Advocates say the information will allow emergency responders to act with greater speed and sensitivity.

The point of the program is to prepare officers approaching a person with a disability during an emergency and to understand, for example, that they may fear loud noises or be unable to hear spoken instructions. Firefighters would know if a burning home is likely to contain someone who can’t get out. Advocates say Pennsylvania is the only other state to offer the service so broadly.

Itasca deputy police chief Dean Myles, who serves on the board of the Autism Society of Illinois, said the service could help prevent potentially fatal encounters between police and disabled people, including one in 2005 that killed Hansel Cunningham of Des Plaines.

After police responded to a call that he’d attacked a caregiver at the home where he was living, Cunningham, 30, ran from police, who wound up using pepper spray and a Taser, tackling Cunningham and handcuffing him. He suffocated to death while being held face down on the ground.

Related story here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm and is filed under autism, community services, criminal justice, law enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.