By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

WILTON – Wilton residents with special needs will receive a little extra attention from more able neighbors, police officer Bob Cole Jr. said.

Cole is organizing a Hello Neighbor program and is seeking volunteers to call seniors, retirees and disabled residents who may be in need of occasional assistance.

Their telephone calls will ensure that residents are faring well. But if a call goes unanswered, a police officer will go to the resident’s home to make sure they are well and nothing is amiss.

“It’s the town of Wilton helping the town of Wilton,” Cole said Wednesday.

Calls will be tailored to each participant, with callers asking pertinent questions based on interviews to be conducted by Cole and a volunteer representative of the Fire Department.

Cole, donating his time to the effort, expects most of the volunteers to be seniors or retirees, who will make calls from the Police Department for a few hours two to three days weekly.

Volunteers will also be asked to be available to help in the event of a natural disaster – assisting at the public safety building, freeing police officers and firefighters to handle the situation outside.

The program is organized through a national group, Volunteers in Police Service, or VIPS, in which nearly 40 police departments throughout the state participate. Local police departments benefit from educational and other resources provided by the federal program designed “to foster a culture of service, citizenship and responsibility, building on the generous spirit of the American people,” according the organization’s Web site.

Cole said he had been thinking about starting the program since the ice storm of 1998. During that time, when the town was without electricity for nearly two weeks, police, firefighters and others were busy checking on seniors ensuring they had heat, food and medications.

His other concern is elder crime, he said. Seniors are often the targets of fraudulent laborers and telemarketers and Internet and mail scams. The program will also address these issues.

A first informational meeting will be held at 6 p.m. May 17 at the Police Department, 874 Main St. Cole hopes to recruit 20 to 30 people initially, he said. Seniors or others who would like to be on the call list, as well interested volunteers, may contact him at the Wilton town office at 645-4961 or by e-mail at [email protected].