ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An Orange County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit tracked down a woman with dementia who went missing last week in a neighborhood.
Body-worn camera video shared to social media shows Master Deputy Allan Darcey present Roscoe the K-9 with a scent-collection kit before the bloodhound took off sniffing along the sidewalk, eventually bringing the deputy face-to-face with the woman, who could be seen lying down in the shade in front of another house.
“Hi! Can you say hi?” the woman said, greeting Roscoe. “Oh, I love doggies, I love you, gonna give me lovies?”
The woman told deputies she was OK before being helped to her feet, the video shows.
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In the post, the sheriff’s office stressed the importance of having a scent-collection kit on hand to protect loved ones in cases such as this, sharing that the kits are available for free by visiting the agency’s Central Operations Building at 2500 W. Colonial Drive.
The rescue demonstrates how valuable a Scent Evidence K-9 Collection Kit can be. These kits enable you to pre-collect and preserve a person’s unique scent, giving our K9 units a valuable head start during searches– when every second counts. A trained K-9 can use the scent, which is as identifiable as your fingerprint and lasts up to 10 years when stored in the kit.
For families with loved ones diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, other memory disorders, or autism, wandering and getting lost is a significant concern. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that 60% of individuals with Dementia will wander and go missing.
Orange County Sheriff's Office on X | 9:58 a.m. July 26, 2024 (excerpt)
Last week’s rescue itself was thanks in part to the sheriff’s office’s ongoing distribution of the scent kits through its partnership with Senior Resource Alliance, according to the post.
Learn more about the kits at the sheriff’s office’s website.
Watch the video below or by clicking here.
OCSO K9 bloodhound Roscoe, and his human, Master Deputy Allan Darcey, successfully recovered a missing woman last week, thanks, in part, to the Scent Collection kits we provide to the community through our partnership with the Senior Resource Alliance. This video highlights the… pic.twitter.com/tbKgb0kFeN
— Orange County Sheriff's Office (@OrangeCoSheriff) July 26, 2024
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