Howard County Police routinely respond to calls for persons with an identified developmental, intellectual, degenerative or physical disorder or disability who have wandered off, gone missing, or are in a state of crisis. With the 9-1-1 flagging program, police can be alerted immediately that the person involved has a certain condition and provided with valuable information and ways to help before they even arrive. For example, a child that goes missing and is drawn to water could be at significant risk, and getting officers to those locations faster–before even arriving at your house–could be lifesaving. Providing information that your loved one is deaf would significantly affect the way an officer communicates with them, without adding to the confusion of an already stressful or chaotic incident. The database can be used for any relevant mental or physical health concern, to include:
- Autism
- Alzheimer’s
- Intellectual or Developmental Disability
- Physical disability, such as blindness or deafness
- Mental health diagnoses
- Other behavior that may affect police response
HCPD encourages those with special circumstances to use the flagging program so that officers can be provided with important information before they arrive at your residence. All information remains confidential and is never shared with outside entities, and is only used to benefit responding officers.
Click here to request a flag of your address.
