Proposed 911 registries could 'save lives' for those in crisis, says lawmaker

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Lawmakers in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties are considering legislation to create voluntary 911 caller registries.

The new legislation would give residents the opportunity to provide personal information to county 911 centers about people living in the home, including family members with disabilities or mental health issues who may not handle confrontations with police in a typical fashion. 

"We’re seeing not just here in Prince George's county but across the country. Sometimes when we enter a situation and you have someone with special needs but they’re having a mental health crisis and they don’t know that the person might not respond the same way that they go through training. So they might think it’s violence or they’re trying to be disobedient, but really the person can’t respond in a way that they might feel is deemed appropriate. And so this legislation really can save lives," said Prince George's County Councilmember Krystal Oriadha. 

Asst. Chief Admin. Officer, Montgomery County Dr. Earl Stoddard expressed his reservations on how a 911 registry program would function. 

"The details of how you would actually administer a program like this are super important. For example, when someone submits information you obviously need to have some sort of validation process in the moment but also what about a year later? What’s the length of time? Because people move, people's situations change, their diagnoses change. And so obviously, data validation is a huge portion of this to make sure you got it right," said Stoddard. 

Prince George's will have a public hearing on this in the coming weeks. Montgomery County is still working on drafting its legislation. A similar program is already up and running in Howard County and elsewhere across the country.