From ActionNewsJax.com:
The Live Oak Police Department is looking into whether GPS tracking devices could help save the lives of children with special needs.
The idea came to Police Chief Buddy Williams several weeks ago after a tragedy struck his community.
A 9-year-old autistic boy, Leo Walker, wandered from his home overnight. Despite a massive search effort, the boy was later found dead in a nearby pond.
Williams, who has a special needs daughter, told Action News he knows how common it is for special needs children to wander.
“I live it,” he said. “I have locks on my refrigerator, locks on my pantry, door knobs backwards in my house. I have an alarm system in my house, I have alarms on the windows. It hit very close to home — it tore at my heart every hour that this kid was gone.”
Read more on ActionNewsJax.com.
I’m not posting this item because I find this application of GPS horrifying. I’m already on record as supporting the use of GPS for tracking people in certain situations like this. Tracking won’t prevent some problems, but it can sure help shorten the problem and avoid even more serious problems.