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Making it all possible are Remi, Bergen County’s only scent-specific bloodhound, and Find ‘Em Scent Safe, which created the kits.
Maywood police are also updating their at-risk/disabled resident registration.
Information includes emergency contacts, special considerations, hide-a-key locations, etc., Police Chief Joseph Natale said.
Residents/family members can obtain a registration form for the free scent kits at police headquarters.
Those who qualify will be contacted, the chief said.
Non-residents and all others can purchase kits at findemscentsafe.com.
Given how often Remi assists other departments in North Jersey, having a kit could be beneficial not only to Maywood residents.
The first three hours is the most critical window of time for locating a missing person, Natale noted.
Find’em™is a scent collection and storage system created to assist a search dog team with a “viable, uncontaminated scent article” of a missing person, whether they’re lost or dealing with a medical emergency, he said.
It’s a proactive way to protect children, older adults, those with dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease and autism, as well as hunters, hikers and nature lovers, the chief said.
You can obtain a registration form at Maywood police headquarters, 15 Park Avenue, Maywood, NJ, 07607.
“We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Coby Webb, a highly respected and accomplished police captain in Southern California, as well as the founder of Find’em™ Scent Safe,” said Chris Nichols, a Maywood Police Detective/K9 Handler who heads the department’s K9 squad.
“My unit looks forward to making this product available for the safety and well-being of our residents should they ever be in the situation of needing to safely locate a missing loved one,” Nichols said.
Collecting a person’s scent item with Find’em™ takes less than 10 minutes, the detective said.
The Scent Safe storage case includes a sterile gauze pad to be placed on an optimum-scent-collection area on the body.
After the gauze pad is held in place for five minutes, it then goes into an enclosed tamper-evident bag. The bag is then put back in the Scent Safe case.
When stored properly in a freezer, the scent collection item is usable for 12 months.
“I’ve been worked on hundreds of missing person cases throughout a career that has spanned 10 years, and I have no doubt making a resource like Find’em™ Scent Safe available for our residents as a proactive safety measure will prove to be invaluable,” Nichols said. “An uncontaminated human scent is absolutely critical for search dogs to have the ultimate success of locating a missing person.”
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