ROANOKE, Va. – CeCe Patterson, the 8-year-old Roanoke girl who was missing for about 13 hours earlier this week, was enrolled in the “Project Lifesaver” program.
The program uses radio signal tracking technology to locate individuals with cognitive disorders who are prone to life-threatening wandering.
“Before, we’d do a widescale grid search of everything in the area. This can kind of narrow it to a specific path,” explained Roanoke Police Detective Katrina Romano.
Roanoke City and County police departments have around two dozen people enrolled in the program each.
“What it does is open up other families’ eyes to say, ‘Hey, I have an autistic child and this would bring me peace of mind. At least I know if my child wanders, the transmitter is working and everything is lined up just right, they’re going to locate my child,’” said Project Lifesaver Chief of Operations Paul Ballance.
If your local police department offers the service, you can call them to begin the enrollment process.
To learn more about Project Lifesaver, click here.