A new program offered by the Fayette County Sheriff's Department

will make it much easier to find persons likely to wander off, including

patients with Alzheimer's disease, Down Syndrome or autism.

Such persons can be outfitted with a non-removable bracelet that constantly

emits a radio frequency. If a loved one goes missing, a family member

can notify the sheriff's department, which will dispatch its helicopter,

Hawk 1, to conduct a search.

Nationwide, lost victims have been found within 22 minutes with a 100

percent success rate, according to Project Lifesaver International. Bill

Riley, the department's chief pilot, noted that the signal has been

recorded from locator bracelets as far as 17 miles away when monitoring

The only catch is the frequency bracelet costs $250 and a monthly maintenance

fee, to replace the battery, runs $25.

Realizing not everyone who needs to participate will be able to afford

the cost, the sheriff's department wants to mobilize financial support

from local churches and civic groups, said Fayette County Sheriff Randall

Johnson.

"We're asking our churches to get involved, our Kiwanis Clubs

and our Rotary Clubs," Johnson said. "Somebody who has a low

income, if he gets just one check, might not be able to afford this."

Donations would be used to assist persons who can prove they can't

afford to pay for the monitoring bracelet and monthly fee, Johnson said.

The service is needed in Fayette County, Johnson said.

"We've had instances where people have gone missing and we've

been fortunate to find them within hours in the past," Johnson said.

Johnson said deputies were called Thursday to locate a young autistic

boy who had wandered off from his east Fayette home. Although he was

found relatively quickly, the sheriff noted, the Project LIfesaver system

will be a far more reliable system.

"We just want to do everything that we can to help out," Johnson

said.

The sheriff noted that 1 in 10 families have been affected by someone

who has Alzheimer's disease.

The equipment can also be run by a car on the ground in case of inclement

weather which might prevent the helicopter from taking flight, officials

noted.

The equipment used in the helicopter to locate bracelet wearers was

paid for with money seized from drug dealers by deputies. The department

has spent $7,500 on equipment and training for 15 people.

Since the sheriff's department is the first agency in Georgia to

join Project Lifesaver, they will train all future departments who sign

up.

Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan, the department's director of investigations,

said he hopes other metro Atlanta agencies will sign up for the program.

For more information about the program, call the sheriff's department

at 770-461-6353 or by e-mail at [email protected] .