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Project Lifesaver

Project Lifesaver, is a program of proactive involvement and specialized operations that respond to incidents of victims of Alzheimer’s and other related disorders, that have wandered from home, become lost, and could not find their way back home.  It is the only current organization officially organized to electronically locate lost people.  The program was started in April 1999 by Captain Gene Saunders of the 43^rd Search and Rescue Team of Chesapeake, Virginia.  The basic theory stems from the concept of tracking wildlife and their migratory habits through radio signals. 

Project Lifesaver program is in 46 states, and requests for the program have come from Spain, England, Australia, and Guam.  Currently in the state of Minnesota there are twenty counties and one municipality that have trained Project Lifesaver Equipment operators.  Kandiyohi, Morrison, Lake, Cook, Winona, Olmstead, Wright, Scott, Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Hennepin, Houston, McLeod, Mower, Ramsey, Rice, Wabasha, Washington, Saint Paul PD and the New Brighton Department of Public Safety, are Project Lifesaver certified.  Since it's inception Project Lifesaver operators have returned over 2000 missing people nationwide home to their loved ones.  100% of those that have wandered were found alive, and the average recovery time was 22 minutes.  An average full scale search and rescue of a missing Alzheimer’s, Autistic, or Down Syndrome patient without Project Lifesaver is over 9 hours with an average cost between $10,000 and $20,000.

Lojack Corporation, is the producer of the digital receivers owned by the Sheriff's Office .    The receivers use two types of antennas to locate transmitters which are placed on each individual client.  The transmitters are worn in a plastic case with a wristband similar to a wristwatch.  The transmitters have a specific frequency and produce a radio “pulse” every second, which can be picked up by the receiver.  In late 2008 and early 2009 the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office purchased Digital Receivers from Lojack Corporation.  These digital receivers replaced the 2 original analog receivers in order to stay current with changing technology. The new digital receivers can pick up frequencies in the 215 Mhz to 218 Mhz range.  The older analog receivers only worked in the 215Mhz range.

The Sheriff’s Office supplies transmitters and batteries at no cost to the clients that enroll in the program.  Batteries for each transmitter are to be checked daily by the patient’s caregiver and are replaced monthly by the Sheriff’s Office.  The cost for the program is funded by the Sheriff’s Office Driver Awareness Program, which is a diversion type class where individuals who have received certain traffic citations can forego the court system and participate in a class for a fee of $75, which is less than a basic traffic citation.  The revenue generated from these classes is then put back into the community through the Project Lifesaver program.

The Sheriff’s Office currently has two deputies that is trained as a Search Specialist/Instructors, and ten deputies that are trained Search Specialists.  The deputies work closely with each individual client and caregiver that is enrolled in the Project Lifesaver Program.  Persons interested in learning more about the program can call the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office at (320)214-6700 extension 3325.    Project lifesaver, “Bringing loved ones home”. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Corporal Jason M. Keith

Project Lifesaver Search Specialist/Coordinator