CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — If there’s a person in your home who may need special consideration in the event of an emergency, local first responders want to add them to a “Handle With Care” registry.

“My nephew is prone to DEFCON 1 level meltdowns and I have always worried about police being involved and coming to the house and what could… all the what-ifs of what could happen there,” says Cassie Sneider of Geneva.

Sneider brought her concerns to the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office and they came up with the “Handle With Care” registry.

People who live in Ontario County and have a loved one with autism, Down syndrome, Alzheimer’s, dementia, substance abuse — or any other condition that might make the presence of an officer unsettling, can sign up.

“There’s a child that gets triggered by these types of things in that residence, it’s already going to be enough for them to have strangers come running into their house that they’re not used to and disrupting everything…if the lights and the siren are even that much more of a trigger. That’s something that we can control and stop before we get there and minimize the trauma on that child, that’s huge that’s what we wanna do,” says Ontario County Sheriff David Cirencione.

And it’s not just for children.

“Maybe there’s information about an older person with dementia that tends to wander and maybe there’s a certain place where they tend to go and their loved ones know, hey we have found them behind the neighbor’s barn and that’s a couple hundred yards away from the house we found them there before. If we know that information ahead of time especially if we’re dealing with inclement weather that just gives to first responders that much more of a jump,” Sheriff Cirencione says.

Once a family enters any information into the registry, “that will alert the dispatcher to let the responding units know what that is,” according to Sheriff Cirencione.

It’s a proactive program that is bringing relief to many families.

“I have several friends that have kids that are in a similar situation or have outbursts and everyone was relieved, like just universally relieved so, it seems like this could be something that if it’s put to use will help a lot of people and prevent a lot of what-ifs,” Sneider says.

The Monroe County 911 center has a similar program that’s run through the 911 center — it’s called “Special Persons in Need of 911.”

Get the form on the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office app or call (585) 394-4560 to register for “Handle with Care.”

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