Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 64
CHAPTER 179

Relative to Silver Alert Community Education Month.

[ Filed with Secretary of State  September 22, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SCR 64, Galgiani. Silver Alert Community Education Month.
This measure would proclaim the month of September 2017 as Silver Alert Community Education Month in California and would urge state and local entities, as specified, to work together to promote greater awareness of the Silver Alert system and to educate communities on how they can help in the safe return of a missing individual. The measure would also recognize San Diego’s “AlertSanDiego” system as an ideal tool for notifying the public when a person with dementia or other cognitive impairment, or with a developmental disability, goes missing in the region.
Fiscal Committee: YES  
WHEREAS, The Silver Alert was signed into California law in 2012 to help in the recovery of missing persons who are 65 years of age or older; and
WHEREAS, The Silver Alert is a quick response system designed to issue and coordinate alerts following the unexplained or suspicious disappearance of an elderly person, with the goal of providing immediate information to the public about the missing person, including images or descriptions and the time and location last seen, to speed up the process of locating the person and returning him or her to safety; and
WHEREAS, The Silver Alert was recently amended to include those persons who have a developmental disability or cognitive impairment; and
WHEREAS, There are more than 250,000 people living with developmental disabilities in California, and roughly one in 20 adults suffers from a severe mental illness. Many of these individuals are at great risk of wandering at some point in their lives; and
WHEREAS, Efforts have been made to educate and train those in law enforcement who come into contact with these individuals on how to interact with them and deescalate a situation with the least amount of force, most recently with the passage of Senate Bill 11 and Senate Bill 29 in 2015; and
WHEREAS, There is a growing need to educate people in communities about the Silver Alert, how it will help in the safe return of their loved ones, and how to interact with these individuals should people come into contact with them; and
WHEREAS, If more people in the community were aware of the Silver Alert, the chances that a missing individual is safely located would increase; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims the month of September 2017 as Silver Alert Community Education Month in California and urges all state departments and agencies and local law enforcement agencies to work together to promote greater awareness of the Silver Alert system and to educate communities on how they can help in the safe return of a missing individual; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature also recognizes that San Diego’s “AlertSanDiego” system is an ideal tool for notifying the public via email and text message when a person with dementia or other cognitive impairment, or with a developmental disability, goes missing in the region; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.