Full Notification

Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns, III is announcing a new initiative that will provide important information to police officers responding to incidents involving special needs individuals.

According to Prosecutor Kearns, “On a daily basis, Police Officers and other First Responders have encounters with individuals with various developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and othermental health issues for various emergency and non-emergency reasons. Just as the reasons for each response differ, so do the individuals they encounter. Too often we read about unfortunate outcomes between first responders and special needs individuals arising from a lack of information available to the first responders.”

To address this issue, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office developed the S.T.a.R. Program (Special Training and Registration) in order to provide critical information about an individual to police that will be of assistance in the event of an emergency or other encounter. The program will allow parents and legal guardians, on a voluntary basis, to provide information to law enforcement that they believe is important to the well-being of their loved ones, wards, or clients.Information that can be provided can include dislikes, fears, whether they are verbal or non-verbal, violent tendencies, or any other information that would be helpful to the first responders. Other information such as nearby terrain hazards can assist in the event someone wanders away from home.

The information provided will be loaded into a database at the Hunterdon County Communications Dispatch Center. There, trained dispatchers will be able to cross reference names and addresses with the database and instantly provide details to first responders to assist them with the situation and help keep the individual safe.First responders including state, county, and local police, firefighters, EMS personnel, Emergency Management personnel, dispatchers, as well as educators from several school districts in Hunterdon County, will be receiving mandatory training on a number of issues related to autism and developmental disabilities. The training will also cover safety, with a special emphasis on wandering and elopement. This training will be hosted by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office in conjunction with Hunterdon Medical Center and will be held at the Hunterdon Medical Center auditorium on May 13, 2016 at 8:30AM.

Hunterdon County residents can register on a downloadable form that will be available after May 13, 2016 at www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/prosecutor. For further information, call the HCPO at 908-788-1129.