By David Eck
Enquirer contributor

NORTH COLLEGE HILL - In more than 35 years of police work, North College Hill Police Officer Robert Lotz has seen plenty of situations in which officers had to break down a door to check on an elderly resident who hasn't been seen in days.

But now, thanks to a program to be launched next month, police hope to be able to use a key.

Under the department's Senior Police Emergency Aid Response Services (SPEARS) program, seniors and those with serious medical or physical ailments voluntarily provide a key to their house and permit officers to use it in emergency situations.

The program may provide peace-of-mind for people with special needs. It also helps eliminate the "gray area" an officer faces when deciding whether break into a home to check on a person's welfare, Officer Lotz said.

"This is always there, should it be needed," Officer Lotz said. "It gives that person that may be living here all alone. ... The idea that somebody's looking out for them."

However, the key could not be used as an alternative to getting a search warrant in a crime investigation.

"This program has nothing in common with any criminal enforcement," Officer Lotz said.

The department hopes to have the program online next month. It is not known how many residents will choose to participate.

As part of the consent form, residents will be required to give police next of kin names, phone numbers and brief medical background information.

And the program is intended only for emergencies.

"This is not (for when) you lost your keys and you need to get in the house," Officer Lotz said.

To protect the keys, they be stored in a locked safe in the police station that can only be opened remotely by dispatchers at the Hamilton County Communications Center upon request of an identified North College Hill police officer.

Each key will be numbered, and the officer will use an in-house computer database to determine the key that fits a specific address.

The department has spent about $2,000 developing the program and buying the security equipment, officials said.

"We think it's going to work out pretty well," North College Hill Police Chief Paul Toth said.

E-mail daveck@fuse.net