JSO talks on scent jars and trackers – Action News Jax

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 67-year-old woman with dementia wandered away from her daily care facility last Wednesday. In many cases, these searches can stretch into agonizing hours or days. However, thanks to a combination of a “scent jar” and a wearable tracker, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) officers and K9 Ruger found her safe in less than 60 minutes.

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Body camera footage released by JSO captured the high-stakes search. Sergeant Joshua Sterner of the Missing Persons Unit noted that the success of the mission relied heavily on the family’s preparation.

“We were notified by a family that she had walked away from a care facility that she goes to on a daily basis,” Sterner said. “The scent jar itself is huge.”

While police typically use blankets or clothing to give a K9 a trail, those items often contain “commingled” scents from other family members or pets. A scent jar—containing a sterile swab of the individual’s unique scent—provides a “pure” sample that allows a dog like Ruger to lock on instantly.

“If nobody has a scent jar, you’re touching an item… so the scent is not specifically that missing person’s scent,” Sterner explained.

The woman was also one of 80 local residents currently enrolled in JSO’s tracker program. These devices, worn on the wrist or ankle, allow detectives to use specialized antennas with a two-mile radius to pinpoint a person’s location in case they go missing.

“It cuts down the timeframe. If they’ve only been gone 15 or 20 minutes, it saves us hours,” Sterner said.

JSO provides these scent jars free of charge to families caring for loved ones with cognitive conditions such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, or autism. The jars are designed to preserve a scent for up to 10 years.

JSO talks on scent jars and trackers – Action News Jax

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