Law enforcement agency partners with nonprofit to aid people with disabilities

The Lee County Sheriff's Office has launched a new initiative to improve emergency response for people with developmental disabilities.

This effort is in partnership with Family Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding those with autism and other developmental challenges.

"This collaboration connects our agency with licensed clinical professionals who support our work," said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno in a press conference on Wednesday. "It might be a canine that just makes someone feel very calm, or it might be a clinician going out and making contact to help the person who needs help."

Lisa Quetti, a dog handler with Golden Paws Assistance Dogs, explained the role of service dogs in this initiative.

“We are an organization in Naples, Florida, and we train service or assistance dogs for wounded veterans and children with disabilities," said Quetti. "And in the past couple of years, we have been training dogs to become crisis care dogs with local law enforcement communities."

Quetti brought one of their dogs, Valor, to the Lee County Sheriff's Office headquarters to join another of their dogs, Rollie. Both dogs are now part of the initiative.

Lisa Quetti spoke about the benefits these dogs bring to emergencies.

“Our golden retrievers are highly trained, they are highly skilled, they are intuitively calm and studies have shown that petting a dog can bring your heart rate down, can bring your blood pressure down and in many of these situations children or the elderly or anybody who's been in an accident will connect with a dog and the situation won't be as scary or frightening,” said Quetti.

The partnership also includes a special person's registry database. Families can voluntarily register information about their loved ones with autism or developmental disabilities to equip deputies better to help.

David Brown, the co-founder and president of Family Initiative, emphasized the importance of this approach during the press conference.

"Really hope moving forward we see more law enforcement agencies take this approach that Lee County has," said Brown.

For families interested in registering their loved ones, the sheriff's office allows registration at any of its substations or community outreach centers.