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Amber Alert for seniors: Oden hopes to create state-wide system
MONTGOMERY, Jan 04, 2009 (The Decatur Daily - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The framework for a bill to set up an Amber Alert system to help find missing senior citizens started with experiences of people in Blount County.
On more than one occasion communities in Rep. Jeremy Oden's Alabama House district mobilized to help find a missing senior citizen, he said.
"It took a community to find them," Oden, R-Eva said.
Oden pre-filed legislation in December that he hopes will lead to an organized statewide system to help find missing frail senior citizens. 2009 will mark the second year Oden introduced the bill, which drew wide House support in 2008 but bogged down in the Senate.
Oden said he heard about experiences of the communities in Blount County where people worked together to find loved ones.
In 2007, Oden's mother Carol Oden became a member of the Silver-Haired Legislature, a senior citizens activist group that meets to set legislative priorities each year. She told him the organization wanted an organized system to locate missing elderly relatives.
Oden had legislation drawn up for a statewide notification system to help law enforcement and families to mobilize a search rapidly. He calls it an Amber Alert for seniors, similar to the nationwide program to help find missing children.
The bill will be back for 2009 as HB 33, which Oden pre-filed in December. The lawmaker said the bill is identical to the 2008 bill, which more than 50 House members signed up to co-sponsor.
Oden said some counties have a missing-senior alert program, but there is no organized plan to get the word out statewide.
Now, if a person is over 21, police cannot do a missing person alert for two or three days. His said his bill would enable law enforcement to issue an alert for an at-risk senior within hours.
The Department of Public Safety would set operating guidelines.
The bill calls for using the same TV, radio and electronic message board alerts to notify the public when a senior with dementia, Alzheimer's disease or other serious condition disappears, Oden said.
Carol Oden said Silver Haired Legislature members talked to people in the districts they represent.
She discussed the issue with people who attend senior centers and family members concerned about the issue in her House District 11 area.
"We heard from people who said they knew something was wrong when their family member disappeared," Carol Oden said.
"Often Alzheimer's disease or other dementia was part of the problem.
To see more of The Decatur Daily, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.decaturdaily.com Copyright (c) 2009, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
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