Ormond Beach, FL – The Ormond Beach Police Department (OBPD) has bought Scent Preservation Kits to distribute to individuals at-risk of going missing.
After hearing about a missing Florida woman with dementia who was found within minutes thanks to a Scent Preservation Kit, OBPD Chief Robert Jesse Godfrey knew he had to find out more information about the kits. “We thought the kits would be a good way to help protect our citizens and those in the community with dementia and autism who are at-risk of going missing,” said Godfrey.
The test kits are proven to store a person’s scent for several years. All a person has to do is wipe the provided medical gauze under their arms or across their chest and seal it in a labeled, treated jar with tamper-proof tape.
K-9 trailing from a piece of clothing belonging to a missing person is often unreliable. In those cases, other individuals or pets may have touched the clothing article and contaminated the scent, decreasing the chances of the missing person being found.
“Being able to provide a K-9 Trailing team with an uncontaminated scent article could make the difference in saving the life of someone who’s lost and exposed to the elements,” said OBPD Captain Chris Roos.
Former FBI Forensic Canine Operations Specialist and founder of Scent Evidence K-9, Paul Coley, created the kits. “The Florida woman with dementia, whose story made worldwide news in late July, had preserved her own scent two years prior to going missing with a kit obtained through a program similar to the Ormond Beach program,” said Coley. “We recently conducted a case study using a scent we preserved over 4 ½ years ago and our K-9 Team had no issues in finding the target and, according to recent studies, the kits can last up to 10 years.”
If you are the caretaker of an adult or child who is at high-risk of going missing or wandering off, you can call the OBPD Outreach Unit at 386-676-3553 to receive a free Scent Preservation Kit. More information about Scent Evidence K9 can be found here.
Photo courtesy of the OBPD.
Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2017.
