The Maywood Police Department is among the first in the country to utilize a scent kit. This kit makes it easier for Bloodhounds to find patients with maladies, autism, or dementia who may have wandered off and got lost. The program collects scents that dogs use to track and identify missing people.
There are 50 million people with dementia from different parts of the world. The World Health Organization expects that number to triple in the next three decades. For every ten people with dementia, six tend to wander off and eventually find themselves lost.
Randy Lerner, the spokesperson of the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater New Jersey, emphasized the importance of programs that make it easy to find people with autism, dementia, or maladies who are in the wandering stage. This is where Remi the Bloodhound enters the picture.
Scent collection
The K-9 unit at Maywood made a collaboration with Find’em Scent Safe to make it easier for their canines to find missing people. The organization provides DIY kits that families of people with autism or dementia can use to collect their scent.
They use a gauze to collect the scent, then seal it inside a clean plastic bag. The scent is placed on the K-9 unit’s file. If the person wanders about and goes missing, Remi springs into action.
Lost and found
Maywood is the only town with a scent-specific Bloodhound in Begen county. Remi has been part of their K-9 unit since 2016. She’s been called on almost a hundred times to help find missing people. She does a great job of tracking them down and bringing them back safely to their families.
According to her handler, Det. Christopher Nichols, Remi is doing an excellent job of helping people with cognitive disabilities. To know more about Remi’s story, watch the video below:
Credits to CBS New York
