Shown is 8-year-old Hartlee Knight, who helped stage a missing person incident, with K-9 Maggie.
Chief Deputy BJ Knight shows a little affection to K-9 Bree, one of two bloodhounds with the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office, trained to find missing persons.
LAURINBURG — The Scotland County Sheriff’s Office wants residents to know that there are free resources available to them that aid in the recovery of missing persons.
Bryan “BJ” Knight, chief deputy with Scotland County Sheriff’s Office, is very passionate about these efforts and wants to make sure these resources are being utilized.
“One of our major problems in our county revolves around children with autism and elderly residents with dementia and Alzheimer’s who wander off from home,” Knight said. “Right now we have three methods we utilize to help bring them back home.”
One of those methods is the use of bloodhounds.
“We have my dog Maggie who is two and a half years old and the other is Bree who is 5,” Knight said. “Bree was donated to us by Scent Evident out of Tallahassee, Florida.”
The other two resources, according to Knight, are game changers and he wants residents to take advantage and put them to use.
“The next way we are working towards finding missing residents faster and more efficiently is the Sheriff’s program, ‘Project Life Saver,” Knight said. “It is GPS bracelet system that helps put us in the right direction of the missing person once we are within two miles of them.”
The bracelets are available at the Sheriff’s office and are free to the public. Each unit costs around $350, however, Knight said, donations are what have made it possible to give them out at no cost to residents.
“People in the community, local churches and organizations have really supported this project,” Knight said. “If anyone is interested in one of the bracelets, they simply need to come to the office and fill out an application. There is no age requirement however the person who will be wearing it does need to have a diagnosis such as dementia.”
The third resource that is available to residents is scent jars which are also free and available at the Sheriff’s Office.
“Basically what this does is allow family members of at-risk residents to pre-collect their scent,” Knight explained. “When we are called out to a missing person it initially takes us a good 45 minutes to an hour to find something with enough of the person’s smell for our dogs to track them.
“These jars allow us to cut that time out and be able to track sooner and ultimately recover the missing person faster,” Knight continued. “Once the scent is collected and sealed in the jar they are effective for up to 10 years.”
Knight also said that the scent jars are good to take on vacations as well.
“If you think about it, you go to the beach for the weekend and your child wonders off, you may not have their pillow or hairbrush, but if you have that jar with you in case of emergency, it allows the local law enforcement to conduct a more efficient search,” Knight said.
Anyone interested in utilizing these free resources can visit the Sheriff’s Office during normal business hours to get an application.