Qld Police and MedicAlert partner for new initiative Safe and Found to help missing people with Alzheimers, Dementia
Thousands of lives could be saved across Queensland following the launch of a new initiative aimed to help police find missing people before it’s too late.
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Thousands of lives could be saved across Queensland following the launch of a new initiative aimed to help police find missing people before it’s too late.
Queensland Police in partnership with the non-profit MedicAlert Foundation have launched the Safe and Found Initiative which allow officers access to personalised profiles of people living with dementia, Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disabilities, allowing the search to be more targeted about possible locations or specific locations.
It is the first initiative of its kind in Queensland, following Western Australia which started it and the Northern Territory which wasn’t far behind.
Queensland Police Service’s Missing Persons Unit Detective Senior Sergeant Duncan Gorrie said in the last calendar year they had 9060 people go missing.
“The missing persons reports that we review on an almost daily basis involve people with dementia, Alzheimer's and other cognitive disabilities,” he said.
“The lost person’s behaviour profile and the information held by medic alert is critical for us to try and find people quickly.
“The quicker we have that information, we can conduct targeted searches as opposed to just a general search looking for somebody.
“ If we have some specific information about their behaviour to that person, then we can target it.”
About 80,000 people are currently diagnosed with Dementia in Queensland and more than 150,000 children with autism.
Data from the Alzheimer’s Association and Dementia Australia, shows that six out of 10 people living with dementia will wander at least once.
In the past financial year QPS recorded a total of 1059 search and rescue operations with 18 of those people who had dementia or Alzheimers.
Detective Senior Sergeant Gorrie said having access to this information will greatly assist missing person investigations and search and rescue operations.
“By having access to more data and information about vulnerable persons, we’re able to quickly locate people if they are to go wandering,” he said.
“If a person goes missing, the search area is four square kilometres after the first 15 minutes but after two hours, the search area becomes 200 square kilometres.
“Time is critical in these situations and having access to vital information about these people in these circumstances will greatly assist us in saving lives and reducing harm to the community.”
MedicAlert chief executive Chris Radbone said with Queensland on board Safe and Found covers more than 70 per cent of Australia’s land mass which would reduce the anguish and concern by family.
“From my perspective it is tens of thousands of people who could benefit from the service we’re able to support in partnership with the Queensland police,” he said.
Mr Radbone said there is also a discussion about someone not needing it when they go into an aged care home.
“We find that over 50% of the search and rescue in the dementia space are from institutional care,” he said.
“So the whole idea is that just because there’s an authorised agent there to look after your loved one, does that mean that this service is no longer required and if you understand the statistics on people who go missing, some of the people can be quite devious and creative about how they get out of these facilities.”
Western Australia Police Forces’ Safe and Found Coordinator, Senior Constable Therese Wilson said the program has been incredibly successful since its inception in 2021.
“What we know from our first year of the program is that we were able to access information from MedicAlert to locate missing persons within two hours of them going missing,” Senior Constable Wilson said. “This significantly reduces the amount of time they’re out in the elements and ultimately reduces the harm they may otherwise suffer.
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