Chip Chick
Joliet, Illinois. The Joliet Police Department has developed a unique program to help support Veterans in distress.
After receiving a high volume of 911 calls from Veterans who were thinking of taking their own lives or were in some kind of distress, the department decided to do something to help.
“They were just in need—despondent, some of them were suicidal,” Lt. Moises Avila explained to Route Fifty.
“We started doing research and realized there was nothing available to assist these vets with resources or getting them to different programs, other than the Veterans’ Administration.”
Joliet Police Department; pictured above is the Joliet Police Department headquarters
Due to the lack of services to help Veterans in distress, members of the Joliet Police Department took it upon themselves to create a solution.
That solution is now called the Battle Buddy Program.
“The program was designed to assist Veterans who may be despondent, suicidal, or in need of a referral for housing, transportation, substance abuse treatment, or mental health counseling,” the Joliet Police Department said in a statement.
“Police officers who are military veterans can be more empathetic to the needs of a Veteran and can relate to their experience in the military as far as deployment, training, combat, and the many hardships that are inherit with serving in the military.”
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