The state’s new Silver Alert system to help find missing adults with dementia or other problems has been used five times since the law authorizing it went into effect July 1, and officials expect the alerts will be issued even more as more people battle Alzheimer’s disease.
“We needed something to alert the public when those with Alzheimer’s or other illnesses wander,” said Melissa Barile, the Alzheimer’s Association’s regional director in Fort Wayne.
The program is modeled after the Amber Alert system for abducted children. Five Silver Alerts have been authorized in the last two months, while no Amber Alerts have been issued in 2009.
Andre Clark, who runs the Silver Alert system for the Indiana State Police, likes the program but is concerned that an onslaught of Silver Alerts could desensitize people when Amber Alerts are issued.
“There is a fear that the public will tune this information out. Anytime something gets abused, people start to ignore it,” he said. “We’re lucky — knock on wood — that we haven’t had any Amber (Alerts) this year.”
Silver Alerts are issued only after a local police department does a preliminary investigation.
“Most missing-persons cases are resolved through normal police work,” Clark said. “But if there are no leads or time is essential, that is a good reason for Silver Alert.”
Of the five Silver Alerts approved since July, three people were found alive.
One authorized alert was canceled before it was made public because the person was found. Alerts were broadcast in August for a 75-year-old diabetic man from Fowler who was found at a flea market in Ohio, and a 79-year-old Cass County man was believed to be in danger but was later found alive in Indianapolis.
Two people were found dead after being subjects of the alerts. A 48-year-old Ellettsville woman who disappeared in July was later found dead in a Terre Haute motel, where she apparently had committed suicide. A 66-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s walked away from her home in Boonville in July and was found dead nearby from an accidental drowning.
Indiana could see more Silver Alerts in the future. When Ohio started its missing adult program in 2008, it issued 30 alerts. So far this year, that number has tripled to 90, said Tamara McBride, spokeswoman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency’s program.
Most of the alerts have resulted in safe recoveries, McBride said. In about 10 percent of cases, the person was found dead, she said.
“It’s extremely successful,” McBride said of the program. “On a scale of one to 10, I’d rate it a 10.”
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