Submitted photo
Jackson County Sheriff Rick Meyer holds communication boards. They recently were given to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department from the Autism Society of Indiana and are used to communicate with people with limited language skills.
Submitted photo
Jackson County Sheriff Rick Meyer recently announced his department had acquired communication boards from the Autism Society of Indiana.
He said one communication board will be placed in each officer’s vehicle.
A communication board is a device that displays photos, symbols or pictures to help people with limited language skills with express themselves. The user may gesture, point to or blink at images to communicate with others.
“This type of alternative communication device will be a tremendous asset to our department,” Meyer said.
Nonverbal people, some of whom are on the autism spectrum, can face great difficulty communicating needs or information in an emergency situation, Meyer said. A communication board can greatly enhance the ability to express needs and information.
The boards contain illustrations designed to help officers gain necessary information to help when communicating with a nonverbal person. Some examples of questions that can be asked are “Where do you live?” “Are you sick?” and “What medicine do you take?” There also are symbols for a variety of common health conditions.
Communication boards for police officers will allow them to learn anything from whether a person needs a tow truck or has a driver’s license. Each board comes with a training video to allow officers to learn how to effectively utilize the device.
The communication boards also display a keyboard, allowing people to point out a message to officers.
“The communication boards will allow us to communicate with those on the autism spectrum as well as with persons who may not speak English and those who have mental health or other
issues that prevent them from talking,” Meyer said. “These will be invaluable in emergency situations.”
Meyer won the Republican nomination for county sheriff in the primary election on Tuesday. He is running for a second term, and so far, no Democrat has filed to run for sheriff.
Upon winning the nomination, Meyer said he’s “excited and honored to hear Jackson County believed in me and voted for me to represent them in the general election in November.”
He said he appreciates the support of everyone who voted for him, and he doesn’t take their votes lightly.
“In this campaign, the voters had seen that I had kept my campaign promises,” Meyer said.