PA State Police Reading

[Walleye Hunter]

I've usually found it to be the other way around.

Same here and I've met my share of PSP. And didn't have to meet with some that I should have.

[Walleye Hunter]

Where did my post go? It was there a second ago.

[Walleye Hunter]

Where did my post go? It was there a second ago.

And just like that, there it is. WTH?

[ArmedDragon]

If the husband has an iPhone, perhaps a cellular Apple Watch in "kid mode" would be a good idea. It acts as a tracker with cellular connectivity, is worn on the body as opposed to being a phone in a pocket she could forget or lose, and also acts as an emergency way to call her or have her call the "parent" device since it can take phone calls. The flaw of course is if she will randomly take it off, or if you fail to charge it over night.

This beats an AirTag since they only work if someone with an Apple device is near the AirTag.

Just my 2¢ as a parent and as someone who manages Apple products in enterprise environments.

[theshadow]

If the husband has an iPhone, perhaps a cellular Apple Watch in "kid mode" would be a good idea. It acts as a tracker with cellular connectivity, is worn on the body as opposed to being a phone in a pocket she could forget or lose, and also acts as an emergency way to call her or have her call the "parent" device since it can take phone calls. The flaw of course is if she will randomly take it off, or if you fail to charge it over night.

This beats an AirTag since they only work if someone with an Apple device is near the AirTag.

Just my 2¢ as a parent and as someone who manages Apple products in enterprise environments.

Actually, an AirtTag can be tracked via website as well. This is a trick we've recommended to people in the past, slip an airtag into the sole of the slipper/ shoe or anything they won't walk outside without. Pendants, bracelets, watches, are often removed by Alzheimer and other dementia patients. We had a great search in Ephrata, where the Police canceled the call while on the line with the SAR Chief based on using the recommended AirTag. I still encourage reaching out to Project Lifesaver which has more advanced tech and is subsidized, and most police units in Central PA are trained in tracking these individuals.

Unfortunately Technology is also fallible, and I've been on searches when the tracker was being recharged, the power failed, and door alarms were ineffective. The poor subject wandered off into the snowstorm. Dementia is a thief, not just of the poor individual with the symptoms, but steals so much from the supporting family as well. From a search manager's perspective, these are some of the most difficult, both in terms of management as well as personal emotions that you can do.

Again if the OP needs some experienced input, I am available to give some pointers.

[ArmedDragon]

Actually, an AirtTag can be tracked via website as well. This is a trick we've recommended to people in the past, slip an airtag into the sole of the slipper/ shoe or anything they won't walk outside without. Pendants, bracelets, watches, are often removed by Alzheimer and other dementia patients. We had a great search in Ephrata, where the Police canceled the call while on the line with the SAR Chief based on using the recommended AirTag. I still encourage reaching out to Project Lifesaver which has more advanced tech and is subsidized, and most police units in Central PA are trained in tracking these individuals.

Unfortunately Technology is also fallible, and I've been on searches when the tracker was being recharged, the power failed, and door alarms were ineffective. The poor subject wandered off into the snowstorm. Dementia is a thief, not just of the poor individual with the symptoms, but steals so much from the supporting family as well. From a search manager's perspective, these are some of the most difficult, both in terms of management as well as personal emotions that you can do.

Again if the OP needs some experienced input, I am available to give some pointers.

An AirTag needs to be in range of an internet connected Mac or iOS product. It connects to those over Bluetooth Low Energy and they phone home through said device. While you're correct that you can track it on a website, I think you misunderstood my meaning. I meant that an AirTag needs to be in range of an an internet connected Apple device when out and about. (ie: An iPhone possessed by someone nearby) That is how it will have a connection to Apple's Find My network. I recommended the Apple Watch with cellular connectivity since this person could get lost in the woods or in other places away from people (ie: outside of Bluetooth range of the nearest macOS/iOS product) and as long as it's in cellular range, you have a better and more precise (The watch contains a GPS chip as well) method of finding a lost kid/dementia sufferer, etc... Putting the watch in the kid mode just means this person doesn't also need their own iPhone to be paired with the watch.

If AirTags have been working with the SAR folks you talked to and these people aren't heading off into the woods away from human population, then yeah go with the AirTag as it'll be cheaper and easier to manage but if there's a good chance they'll wander off somewhere where the AirTag can't find a neihboring iOS device in Bluetooth range so it can phone home to Apple, then I recommend the Apple Watch. You could remove the band and slip just the watch face on the person similar to an AirTag if you need to avoid them taking it off.

None of this is perfect and a proper GPS device would be ideal if tracking is really the concern.

Hope this clears up the confusion behind my suggestion.

[theshadow]

Hope this clears up the confusion behind my suggestion.

There's a LOT of misinformation and myths surrounding Search and Rescue. As I demonstrated above, not matter how well planned, no solution is perfect, which is why I prefer talking with the family and working out a plan with them. The first two searches I was involved with were respondents who wound up taking their own lives over the course of 11 years, the cases that weighed most on me were the cases of Alzheimer's, some of the autistics and the despondents. These people don't know they are lost, and the search is heaviest felt by the family members and the search team. To the Alzheimer patient, in their mind, they are going "home" or to "the store" it doesn't matter that the location was 40 years ago and 1000 miles away it's their now and their physical body is in their "future". The Autistic and Despondent, often want a similar thing, the pain to stop. While we can sit and have a discussion on what we perceive to be the best technology, quite frankly the family doesn't care, they want something to help. At this stage in the game many families are at wit's end, and have to have the family member put in a facility (which have more incidents than they'll let on).

I'm sorry for ranting, but there are a lot of opinions with little experience to back them up. Heck I still hear the old "You have to wait 48 hours to report a missing person", when the fact is if a search team is dispatched within 30 minutes you have a close to 90% success rate, and within 6 hours your still looking at north of 75%. The other big myth is over-reliance on K9s, the dogs will always find them, this is not the case, but doesn't stop people from getting a dog from the pound and setting up their own search team. This is an area I've trained, been certified in (by multiple agencies), and continue to study (a heck of a lot of work for a volunteer activity ehh). So what we need to do is to get correct information to the OP that this family can rest a bit easier and have some peace of mind (which is very difficult when Alzheimer's hits your family).

To the OP, I hope the family has made contact with one of the Teams responding in Reading, and if this is still an open issue, please PM me, so I can help you.