Wristbands Help Police Find Adults, Kids Who Wander

Families who have a parent with dementia or a child with autism who tends to wander off now have a way to track him down quickly through a new program started by the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department. 
Care Trak uses wristband transmitters and a telemetry tracking system to help locate people with a medical diagnosis who may have wandered away and become disoriented.
Each person who signs up for the system will get a wristband with its own specific radio frequency. If that person runs away, their caregiver would contact the Sheriff's Department who would then respond with a directional antenna capable of tracking individuals one mile away on the ground or five miles away by air. "It's not GPS, it's old-school radio frequency technology so you don't have to worry about signals not getting out," said Dep. Todd Case. 
"We've all seen the news reports where it's grandpa's gotten way there's 150 people walking around out in the woods with ATVs, takes 2-3 days. This takes about 45 minutes."
Case said St. Charles County will be the first law enforcement agency in the St. Louis area to get the technology. 
He said the county has about 250 calls for runaways a year. A portion of those calls are people who have wandered away. 
"It's not going to stop their child from running away, but it sure makes them easier to find," he said. 
It costs $250 to sign up for the program and that includes the cost of the wrist transmitter and battery check device. Care givers have to check batteries on the band twice a day and replace the battery once every two months at a cost of about $5. 
To participate in the program, individuals must reside in St. Charles County, have a diagnosis that may cause wandering, a 24-hour caregiver and have no access to a vehicle if able to drive, according to a press release.
The Sheriff's Department is looking for nonprofit organizations that might want to help defray the cost to sign up for individuals in need. The program cost the Sheriff's Department $5,000 for the equipment. 
Call the Department of Community Health and the Environment to request an application at 636-949-7400.