Senator Girgenti in the News
Girgenti ‘Silver Alert’ Bill Advances
January 27, 2009
TRENTON – A measure that would establish a statewide system for quickly disseminating crucial information on a missing person believed to be suffering from dementia or some other cognitive impediment was approved unanimously Monday by the Senate Law & Public Safety and Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
“Every year more than 400 persons with dementia and other cognitive disorders go missing in New Jersey,” said Senator Girgenti D- Passaic and Bergen, chairman of the committee, and the bill’s prime sponsor. “I am told that the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to triple by the year 2050 to over 16 million. And, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, 60 percent of those afflicted with the disease wander away from their homes or care facilities at some point. It has been found that half of those who are not found within the first 24 hours they go missing suffer serious injury or even death. ”
The bill, S-1844, which was coalesced into committee substitute S-1551, provides for the issuance of a ‘Silver Alert’, similar to that of the ‘Amber Alert’ system, if an elderly person goes missing and is believed to be suffering from dementia or some other cognitive disorder. This emergency alert plan would be a cooperative effort between state and local law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with participating broadcast media.
The committee substitute seeks to expand the issuance of Silver Alerts to people under the age of 65, but seeks to limit the issuance of alerts in several ways. It will only apply to missing persons with dementia or another cognitive impairment and only in cases involving the risk of serious injury or death. It also calls for the media to take a targeted approach in disseminating the information rather than requiring participating media to broadcast alerts as often as possible for the first three hours of the alert.
The committee substitute would also require the N.J. Department of Transportation, the N.J. Highway Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority to inform the public through highway message sign alerts only if the missing person is driving a vehicle at the time they disappear and accurate information about the vehicle is available.
“This is another provision added to the bill to make sure we achieve our goal of quickly finding missing persons while making sure we don’t overtax our law enforcement resources or the attention of the public,” Girgenti said.
The added provisions contained in the committee substitute were suggested by the Attorney General’s Office, which supports the bill, along with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration.