At work recently we were approached by police officers who were searching for an autistic child who had wandered away from his home. This is a problem many families with autistic children face.
The police did a great job. They had men searching and a plane overhead for at least a couple of hours and we did eventually get word that the child was found.
This got me thinking and I started doing research on the internet and found out that a bill was passed that allows law enforcement agencies to apply for grants for funds for GPS tracking devices for people with autism and dementia.
There are items that look like watches that can’t be removed or devices you can put in someone’s pocket that have GPS tracking capabilities. I encourage the Lima Police Department to apply for the grant and set up a program to put tracking devices on people who are at risk of wandering off and dying. If put into place it could save the police time and resources and worry.
The police who were searching for that child were truly worried about him. I am positive that they would have loved to be able to take out their phone and contact the company tracking the child and find out exactly where he was and have him home safe and sound in minutes.
If the government is making the money available for such a good cause, why shouldn’t our most vulnerable citizens be protected? I found the information by using Google and searching “autism tracking funding” and chose the link from autismspeaks.org that came up and it had information about the funds available.
— Bethany Northrup, Lima
