AKRON, Ohio — A 73-year-old woman, who was missing and considered endangered, is safe after Akron police found her nearly 500 miles away from her home.
The Akron Police Department is crediting the newly-installed Flock automated license plate reader system for providing the clues that helped track down the senior citizen and reunite her with her family.
"I think she might have been suffering from the beginning stages of dementia," said Deputy Chief Mike Caprez.
News 5 is not naming the woman.
The cameras have been popping up all over Akron. Eventually, there will be 145 cameras installed. About half of those are up right now.
In September, Deputy Chief Mike Caprez demonstrated the license plate readers to News 5 and said the cameras will help police spot stolen cars and vehicles used in other crimes, but he also stressed the system could be an important tool to locate missing people.
"We're here to help people and this tool allows us to do that," Caprez said.
According to family, the woman had traveled to Macungie, Pennsylvania and attended a dog show.
But when she didn't make it back to her home in Peoria, Illinois and friends couldn't locate her, Macungie police entered her license plate and information into the National Crime Information Center.
Her brother, Jeff, said worried friends from the dog show began searching wooded areas and lakes looking for any sign of her.
"They were both physically and electronically trying to find her," he said.
Around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a camera positioned at Memorial Parkway and Uhler Avenue picked up the plate of a blue Subaru Ascent driven by the woman considered to be in danger.
Lt. Brian Simcox received a Flock alert— matching the Subaru— on his computer in his cruiser and notified dispatch.
"Half the city came looking for her," Simcox said.
About three minutes later, another officer spotted the vehicle and pulled over the woman near the intersection of North Portage Path and Twin Oaks.
Sixcox said she was clearly disoriented.
"I said, 'Do you know where you are?' She goes, 'Somewhere in Ohio, but I have no idea. I'm just driving west,'" Sixcox said.
EMS was called and the woman was taken to Cleveland Clinic Akron General for evaluation.
On Thursday, Jeff was making arrangements to take a bus to Akron and bring his sister back to Illinois. He stressed how grateful he was to Akron and Pennsylvania police and for the Flock system.
"Without it, we would have never found her," he said. "Certainly, a lot of relief and gratitude."
Jeff said his sister may have been more forgetful lately, but there was nothing that indicated she would have any trouble making the trip to the dog show, something she has done for several years.
Caprez is relieved the situation had a happy ending and that those who feared the senior was in trouble can now rest easy.
"She didn't know where she was or how to get home. She was probably running out of resources. If she had run out of gas or come into contact with someone who meant her ill, it could have ended differently," he said.
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