It was a pleasure to meet Bristol Police Sgt Ricardo Mourato last evening. In the picture above he holds a real estate lockbox, which has been adopted for elderly, veterans or people with disabilities for safety. He said that he experienced several incidents, responding to an elderly citizen's home, where the resident could not get to the door and the police could not get into the house. "If we are lucky, we can climb in through an open window. Worst case scenario, if we can't get to that person, we have to break the door down." This can take time away from emergency personnel getting to a person in need and also cause expensive damage to their property. It's a 15- to 20-minute process.
Sgt Mourato came up with the idea to use real estate lockboxes. It is sturdy and secure. Instead of being fixed to a resident's entry door, it is generally secured under the resident's electrical box or another location selected by the local police department. The electrical box is a primary choice as it can be found easily by looking for the electrical wire to the home. What makes this box special is that only the Police Department has the code to open the lockbox, which contains a key to the home. In Bristol, the Police Department maintains a file on each lockbox resident with the name, address and even a picture of the home.
Many groups are responding to this program by donating the lockboxes to the Police Departments in their community. Sgt Mourato said that the lockbox program has been implemented in Bristol, Seekonk, East Providence, Newport, Providence and has spread across the country. The lockbox, Master Lock Portable Model #5400D, is available at Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and Amazon for those who might want to purchase one. They cost From $28 to $40; however, the lockboxes that are donated to Police Departments are made available to residents in need for free.
Chief Lacey attended this dinner meeting and he was very interesting in adopting this program - as were Westerly Rotarians. The Board met after the meeting and voted to approve an initial purchase - so there will be more to come about this program for our community residents.
Westerly Police Officer Richard Mourato also attended Monday's dinner meeting.
