JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 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 \u201cscent jar\u201d and a wearable tracker, Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office (JSO) officers and K9 Ruger found her safe in less than 60 minutes. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s preparation. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were notified by a family that she had walked away from a care facility that she goes to on a daily basis,\u201d Sterner said. \u201cThe scent jar itself is huge.\u201d <\/p>\n While police typically use blankets or clothing to give a K9 a trail, those items often contain \u201ccommingled\u201d scents from other family members or pets. A scent jar\u2014containing a sterile swab of the individual\u2019s unique scent\u2014provides a \u201cpure\u201d sample that allows a dog like Ruger to lock on instantly. <\/p>\n \u201cIf nobody has a scent jar, you\u2019re touching an item… so the scent is not specifically that missing person\u2019s scent,\u201d Sterner explained. <\/p>\n The woman was also one of 80 local residents currently enrolled in JSO\u2019s 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\u2019s location in case they go missing. <\/p>\n \u201cIt cuts down the timeframe. If they\u2019ve only been gone 15 or 20 minutes, it saves us hours,\u201d Sterner said. <\/p>\n JSO provides these scent jars free of charge to families caring for loved ones with cognitive conditions such as Alzheimer\u2019s, dementia, or autism. The jars are designed to preserve a scent for up to 10 years. <\/p>\n Families interested in requesting a scent jar.<\/a><\/p>\n JSO started using scent kits in 2022 and trackers in 2023. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n