Many cell phones allow users to play games, take pictures and surf the Web, but some callers might just need a line to the police.
“You?re still going to have folks in senior centers or who live alone who don?t have that extra 15 or 20 bucks a month” for a cell phone contract, said Sgt. Carroll Roles. “I think there will always be a need for it.”
For about a decade, the Howard County Sheriff?s Office has provided free emergency-only cell phones, roughly 20 phones a month. The program started for victims of domestic violence and expanded to seniors about six years ago, said Roles.
The department receives the phones, makes sure they work and have a charger, and makes them available though Triad, a county partnership with senior advocates and law enforcement.
News of the phones usually spreads by word of mouth at senior centers, Roles said.
Ted Meyerson,vice chairman of the county?s Commission on Aging, said he wasn?t familiar with the county?s program, but any program allowing someone a way to communicate in an emergency “is a super idea.”
Requests for phones for victims of domestic violence has waned in recent years, he said, likely because many people have their own phones.
Emergency-only phones, donated by Verizon Wireless? HopeLine program, benefit victims of stalking or those who live in the safe house, said Jodi Finkelstein, executive director of the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County.
This is a different program than the one run by the sheriff?s office.
Some users want to stay anonymous from potential abusers who may search for them through phone records.
