Free Child & Senior ID Program To Be Offered In Somerset County

BERNARDSVILLE, NJ — The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office is working with Al LiCata and the Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce to provide a free Child & Senior ID Program.

"Our new VIPS program which protects children, seniors and people with special needs is provided free of charge to the community," said Somerset County Sheriff Darrin J. Russo. "We look forward to demonstrating our specialized law enforcement services to the citizens of this area and to the greater Somerset County population."

The free service will be held on Aug. 8 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Masons Lodge 11-15 Morristown Rd. (Route 202) in downtown Bernardsville. Lite refreshments will be provided at no cost as well.

Somerset County Sheriff’s Office has acquired the most state-of-the-art system in the nation to aid in their never-ending pursuit of preventative and proactive measures to keep citizens safe.

All this technology aids in cutting the reporting time if a child is abducted or a loved one goes missing. It starts comprehensive Secure Child and Medical ID Programs and bolsters the already invaluable service of Project LifeSaver.

The parent/guardian can take the USB thumb drive to a police department to be downloaded, or they could even email the form to them from the APP. There is no other system in the country that is as comprehensive as the one we are using. The APP also supports the updating of any information about the client or child, including adding more photos, changing medications or doctor information, and emergency contact information.

Every day 2,000 children are reported missing. Every year 200,000 children are taken by family members. 58,000 children are victims of non-family abductions. The key to recovering these children is quick action by parents and law enforcement.

There are 3 components addressed in this system at this time, with the ability to expand in the future: Somerset County Children, Somerset County Project Lifesaver Clients and Somerset County Citizens with Medical Conditions who might benefit.

This service to the residents is completely free.

The ID PROGRAM collects data, emergency contacts, prescription medications if applicable, Drs information if applicable, guardian information if applicable, current on-scene photographs are taken, and a full set of 10 fingerprints.

This data is sent to the encrypted file on the flash drive, printed on the data sheet or credit card sized identification card, or sent securely through the APP via QR code. Once that is done – ALL FILES ARE PERMENENTLY DELETED UPON COMPLETION. (The technology that is used to do this was created by the DOD and can be provided upon request.)

Also on hand will be the Somerset County Sheriff Office’s K-9 Unit for folks to meet and greet.

For questions or additional information, call 908-339-5937.