Union County launches Project Lifesaver for faster missing-person searches
Union County now tells families to call 908-654-9801 for PLS help when a loved one wanders. The sheriff's office says the program uses a wrist tracker to speed searches.
Union County’s sheriff’s office now tells callers to dial the Union County Dispatch Center at 908-654-9801 and request PLS assistance when a Project Lifesaver client is wandering. The county page lists people with Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome and other related cognitive conditions as Project Lifesaver clients.
Project Lifesaver International is a 501(c)(3) community-based public-safety nonprofit founded in 1999. Project Lifesaver is a proactive electronic tracking program used by law enforcement, fire-rescue and search-and-rescue teams, along with caregivers, to protect and quickly locate people who are prone to wandering. Wandering prevention should come before an elopement occurs, and the term Electronic Angels was coined around 1999 for the people behind the program during its early years.
The program uses wrist-worn tracking units, and trained responders on the ground and in the air can follow the radio signal. That gives deputies a more focused search method than starting with a broad canvass of roads, yards and neighborhood blocks.
Union County’s ACCESS page places the Sheriff’s Lifesaver Program with the Blue Envelope Program and special-needs resources inside a wider county public-safety effort overseen by Sheriff Scott Hahn, who was identified as the county’s new sheriff. Nearby Pennsylvania sheriff’s offices also maintain Project Lifesaver pages.
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