Guide for Law Enforcement on Alzheimer’s

The Bureau of Justice Administration (BJA) along with Center for Public Safety and Justice have released a guide for law enforcement on dealing with individuals with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s Aware: A Guide for Implementing a Law Enforcement Program to Address Alzheimer’s in the Community is designed to help law enforcement create a community program to deal with the potential interaction with a person with Alzheimer’s. This booklet identifies a number of scenarios when an officer might interact with a person with Alzheimer’s. The tools provided by this initiative is designed

to assist in the development and implementation of a community educational campaign by, or n partnership with law enforcement. The resources have recommendations for developing a strategic plan with practical action steps and activity implementation, in order to develop a holistic  community approach to responding in crisis situations, involving persons with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as increase awareness of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

The booklet includes recommendations for law enforcement to develop a program on making their officers aware of Alzheimer’s and the issues they may encounter. These include officer training, policy reviews, creation of a “local registry”, encouraging the use of monitoring technology or wearable devices and collecting statistics.