Families and friends of Lincoln County residents at risk of wandering off have a new resource to help them protect their loved ones.

“The Wanderers Database” as it has come to be known, will begin taking information about at-risk residents in Lincoln County within the next two weeks. When an individual wanders off, it is critical to find them quickly. Entries in the Wanderers Database provide important information to the Sheriff’s department and local police departments if a resident wanders off due to autism, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or other medical conditions.

Briefing the Lincoln County Commissioners at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, July 15, Tod Hartung, Director of Emergency Management and 911 Communications, explained that inclusion in the database is purely voluntary, secure and only at the request of the at risk resident’s family or guardian.

Hartung explained that Lincoln County would be the third county in the state (after Waldo and Knox counties) to provide this new service for residents.

The concept for the database was started recently by co-founder and Belfast resident Linda Lee, who has a teenager with autism and has been concerned about her child wandering off.

Maintaining and operating the database falls to the County Communications Center because of the necessary interface with the county’s computer operations and 911 system.

According to Hartung, the computer interface to the database will be built quickly and at no additional cost. The information contained in the database includes a recent photo of the missing person and family contact information, as well as what Hartung refers to as “triggers, calmers and nicknames.” This latter information is important for local law enforcement to know when approaching someone who has wandered off. There are no age limits for inclusion in the database.

Family members and guardians of at risk residents of Lincoln County should complete an intake form for the database, which will become available within the next two weeks at their local police departments, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office or the County Communications Center.

“This is a grassroots effort,” Hartung explained, “that should help to mitigate the problems for county residents who might wander.”