The Albany Police Department is teaming up with Project Lifesaver to quickly find missing Alzheimer and Autism patients who wander off.
APD now has new technology that can track down patients with a radioactive bracelet.
Saving the department time and manpower and the city money.
Care giving hits close to home for this Deputy from the Coffee county Sheriff's Office in Alabama. His wife was diagnosed with dementia and dreads the possibility that she'll wander off one day.
"I know how hard it is for the caregivers and I want to make sure we make their life easy for them and take some of that worry off of them," said Deputy Tom Iten.
This gizmo that looks like it came out of a scene from Star Trek will help APD track down missing Alzheimer and Autism patients with a flip of a switch and this bracelet.
Iten gave a demonstration of the machine today at Riverfront Park. We hide a participant in the woods and let the machine go to work.
And like that we found our "missing patient."
The machines picks up the signal from the bracelet when they're within a mile from each other, that's why Iten says it's crucial to alert authorities as soon as the person goes missing.
"They can walk basically 4 miles an hour. You can figure if you wait an hour they can be 4 miles away from the last time you saw them," said Iten.
This new machine will also save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars as an all manhunt for missing patients can be a costly operation.
"To find or locate a lost Alzheimer patient is basically about $138,000.You can spend a thousand or 2 or 3 thousand dollars a year, that might save you just that one time, $150,000 to go out for a major search," said Iten.
APD hopes the community will take advantage of the new tracking device because minutes are vital in search of missing patients.
APD officials tell us those bracelets are limited for now it's best to get them as soon as possible. One bracelet costs $280 dollars.
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