 A new service has arrived in Crowing County that will help police officers interact with people with certain disabilities. A.J. Feldman has more on the system. An encounter with law enforcement can be stressful for anyone, but it can be even more stressful for a person with emotional, intellectual or behavioral disabilities. Like a lot of places in law enforcement and other service type agencies were struggling on how to provide the best service to the individuals. Enter the Vitals app, a service that hopes to change that. A person with a disability is given a beacon, which notifies law enforcement when they're within 80 feet. There, they can see information that will allow the encounter to go as smoothly as possible. One of our ambassadors in St. Paul is a woman with autism and she talks about how this tool has given her independence, confidence to go out. And now she's no longer afraid when she gets pulled over because she feels like she has something that communicates for her, when she can't always explain everything that's going on. Seven agencies in Crowing County have adopted the service, which will be beneficial when visitors come to the area during the summer. As invisible as these disabilities are to begin with, if somebody isn't from our area, it's almost impossible that we know they're background. This is a great tool to offer us some information. While initially designed for those on the autism spectrum, it's been used by people with ADHD, dementia, schizophrenia, and other conditions. Parents have called it, you know, they're running on red all the time. We just hope that we can bring them down a little bit and make them feel, you know, more safe and secure with their loved one. Not only can the app prevent negative interactions, but it can make new positive interactions based on the information provided to the officers. If they load something in there that says, you know, Johnny loves interaction with law enforcement or fire or whoever, we have an opportunity now to create a very positive interaction that otherwise never would have happened. Reporting in Brainerd, A.J. Feldman, Lakeland News. And you can sign up for the service for $10 a month per family. More information on vitals is available on our website or at the Brainerd Lakes Everything Expo in mid-April. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.