Alert System for Missing Children and Adults Launches

Pennsylvania State Police unveiled a new system to help find elderly people who wander away from their surroundings or children who have become lost.

The Missing Endangered Person Advisory Program (MEPAS) was unveiled Saturday by State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan and will provide instantaneous information to regional police departments, news media and the public.

"It will operate much like the familiar AMBER Alert, but likely will be used most often when an elderly person with a disability, or a young child, wanders away from home or a caregiver," said Lt. Myra Taylor, the head of the Pennsylvania State Police public information office in Harrisburg.

The AMBER Alert system focuses on finding children suspected to have been abducted or in danger. It has been in effect in Pennsylvania since 2002.

"The MEPAS system was created to get information out as quickly as possible, through local media, so that those missing could be found as quickly as possible," said Taylor.

She said the information about the missing person is processed and sent to all municipal police departments in the area, as well as 9-1-1 dispatch centers.

Simultaneously, the information is sent to local media outlets and they decide how and when to present the information to the public.

Local police agencies are also able to put out their own requests for assistance, even if a MEPAS Alert is issued.

"The biggest thing to remember when a person goes missing is that you have to call 9-1-1," Taylor said. "This will begin the series of events that will be necessary to implement the issuance of a MEPAS Alert."

Taylor said the program could be very useful in situations where one has gone missing in inclement weather.

"It will be especially useful if someone, such as an elderly dementia patient, leaves a residential facility without the knowledge of the staff," she said. "There could also be incidences such as a seriously ill person with a mental disability disappears, who may be in need of medication."

Taylor said the MEPAS program could be used by mothers or babysitters when a young child disappears.

"Say, for instance, a child gets hurt on the playground, and while the mother is tending to her injured child, she turns around and discovers her other child has wandered away and can’t be found," Taylor said. "In that kind of situation, a MEPAS Alert would be issued."

The system was developed by the Pennsylvania State Police through legislation adopted last year by the General Assembly.

The program is a result of a joint effort between the legislature, the state police, the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters, the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Additional information about the MEPAS program is available on the Pennsylvania State Police website.