Starting Friday, Arizona's Silver Alert notification system will now include people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
You’ve likely seen Silver Alert appear on one of those electronic billboards along Phoenix-area freeways. Last March, Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation broadening the category of people covered by a Silver Alert.
Law enforcement can now issue a Silver Alert if necessary and we can pull all the resources of first responder agencies across the state together and have a whole new set of tools that can help identify and locate these individuals if they get lost and wonder," said Jon Meyers with the Arc of Arizona, a disability advocacy group.
Meyers says the expansion is lifesaving, especially since individuals with certain intellectual or developmental disabilities have a tendency to wander and too often those incidents lead to injury or death.
