ST JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Scent-tracking kits that make K-9 searches for missing persons easier have been delivered to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
In all, 500 at-home scent collection kits, made by “Scent Evidence K9” and paid for with state funding, were delivered to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office today. “Scent Evidence K9” representatives are also providing additional training and guidance at the sheriff’s office this week.
Officials said the new scent evidence collection kits will be especially helpful for local families of those living with Alzheimer’s disease and autism — conditions that may make one prone to wandering that results in missing person cases.
The kits allow families and caregivers to collect a person’s uncontaminated scent and store it at home in the event a loved one goes missing or wanders away. The uncontaminated scent will then be shown to K-9s so that they have a reliable scent to track.
St. Johns County’s deputies hosted a press briefing on Monday to make the announcement, alongside “Scent Evidence K9” CEO Paul Coley, Florida House District 29 Rep. Scott Plakon, Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Project John Trombetta, and St. Johns County Sheriff-elect Rob Hardwick.
Coley said having one, uncontaminated scent for dogs to trace can make investigations more efficient.
“A scent article that we present to the dogs could be heavily contaminated. This takes that away,” said Coley. “The dogs have one targeted odor that they’re able to trail to target to find the individual that’s missing.”
Coley said the kits have a shelf life of 10 years and should be stored in a cool, dry place.
Plakon lost his late wife, Susie Plakon, to Alzheimer’s. In the wake of the tragedy, he pushed for state funding to bring the collection kits to several agencies around the state, including the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
“In the 2019 session, we were able to appropriate $100,000 to do a program in three counties. With [Coley’s] help, people with the Alzheimer’s Association and others, we were able to double the appropriation to be able to expand it to more counties this year,” Plakon said.
Trombetta explained how the program can help law enforcement agencies.
“This is a way to train our law enforcement on how to deal with someone who’s living with this disease, who’s dealing with wandering or elopement,” Trombetta said.
Hardwick said the program will save lives.
“We talk about the use of modern technology. This is one of the cases where we go back with the use of K-9 technology, very important,” Hardwick said.
The sheriff’s office stated interested families should contact them and ask for the “Safe-Trak” coordinator and for more information on how they may receive one of the kits.
Cox Media Group
