Project Lifesaver helps police track down missing person in Guelph

The Project Lifesaver bracelet sends a radio signal 24 hours a day and is designed to help prevent individuals with cognitive disabilities from going missing.

KITCHENER — The Guelph Police Service is celebrating another successful location through Project Lifesaver after they used the technology to find a person who had been missing for about an hour.

Police were called about the missing person on Sept. 1. The person had been seen about 40 minutes earlier and was a member of Project Lifesaver.

Participants in the project wear a battery-operated bracelet that sends a radio signal 24 hours a day, including in buildings and forests. Volunteers visit a client each month to change the battery on the device.

If police are notified about a missing person, officers will use the equipment to find them. Police say Project Lifesaver has a 100 per cent find rate, and that it takes an average of 95 per cent less time to find someone who is wearing the bracelet than someone without it.

In Tuesday's case, the missing person was found safe within 20 minutes of police deploying their equipment.

Officials say the program helps caregivers keep loved ones safe when they wander due to Alzheimer's, autism or other types of cognitive impairments.

There is a start-up fee to join the program and a monthly cost to maintain the equipment.