August 10, 2009

Legislator Nicolello Votes to Adopt Silver Alert System

The Nassau County Legislature voted unanimously to establish a new Silver Alert System in Nassau County. The new system is intended to rapidly disseminate information to the public regarding missing seniors or other individuals suffering Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and other cognitive disorders. The need for such a law is the result of increasing incidents of individuals with cognitive impairments wandering from their caretakers’ supervision into potentially dangerous situations.

The Silver Alert system will closely resemble the Amber Alert for missing children, and will expedite the search and safe recovery of individuals with cognitive disorders.  “Many of us have loved ones who suffer from medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s.  The new Silver Alert System will offer an additional level of protection for those who may go missing,” said Legislator Nicolello. 

The Silver Alert System creates a mechanism for the Police Department to issue an alert containing the missing person’s name, age, physical description and last location seen.  The rapid dissemination of information is intended to shorten the time needed to find the missing person(s) and hopefully prevent such person(s) from harm or accidents.