The United Kingdom’s Avon and Somerset Police Force is attempting to help families and caretakers locate those with dementia who may have gotten lost from home and require assistance. The police force’s Dementia Safeguarding Scheme (Herbert Protocol) consists of free Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled wristbands that are distributed to members of the community who want them, along with GPS pendants. The Herbert Protocol program has been adopted by several police forces throughout England and Wales, in partnership with local authorities and other agencies, to support cases of missing adults.
This is a global problem, as police respond to numerous calls regarding missing individuals, in many cases related to those living with dementia whose family cannot find them. Avon and Somerest Police’s Sgt. Stuart King recalls an incident in which he found a woman in Bristol who was confused and required help. She believed she was going to visit her mother at an address she’d provided to officers. However, that address was located in a neighborhood that had been destroyed by bombing during the Second World War.
NFC-enabled wristbands are distributed to members of the community who want them.
The officers brought the woman to the police station and conversed with her over a cup of tea, long enough that she was able to name a living relative. They were thus able to return her to her distressed family members. She had, they learned, traveled across Bristol in search of the pre-World War II neighborhood. This kind of scenario, King says, could have been managed quickly, perhaps without even requiring police involvement, if GPS or NFC technology had been used.
Stuart King
“Within the U.K., we’re not just about law enforcement,” King states. “We’re about protecting people, and we have a lot of reports about missing people, particularly people with dementia. Often, it’s really difficult for us to locate them.” King helped to launch the Dementia Safeguarding Scheme in 2015, with GPS pendants distributed for the purpose of real-time tracking. The system does not have direct funding from police; rather, it relies on the support of private donations.
However, King says, the GPS units can be highly expensive, and they quickly proved to have some limits. Most such systems operated on 2G connectivity and were thus not very accurate when it came to providing location data. Some GPS pendants are still being used by individuals in Avon and Somerset counties. In some cases, users purchased their own systems privately, then linked the collected data to the Herbert Protocol.
For those looking to purchase such items and pay the expense, King says, that’s entirely their choice, though most would find it cost-prohibitive. There are free tracking apps on mobile phones, he adds, which typically run off 4G connections, making them more accurate. But many elderly individuals are not habituated to carry smartphones. As the population ages over time, he says, that may change. At that point, those used to carrying mobile phones will be better able to rely on GPS-based location information.
Seeking alternatives to GPS, King reached out to the community. He founded a Facebook group known as the Avon and Somerset Dementia Forum, which serves as a platform for dementia support groups and initiatives. “It was a collective we brought together,” he recalls, and he consulted with the Facebook group’s members regarding the use of GPS and other alternatives.
One concern that was expressed was the question of citizens’ privacy and the perception of police monitoring individuals’ movements. That, King says, is far from the department’s intention. While the police can still use GPS data if a person’s caregivers share that information, they have no need for such data unless called upon to use it. “The key for us is knowing someone has this device so that if they are reported missing, we can locate them.”
King found a lower-cost passive system that provided no tracking capability, in the form of NFC technology. The police department then worked with Avon Fire and Rescue, which distributed 13.56 MHz NFC wristbands, compliant with the ISO 14443 standard, to those who requested them. The agencies obtained funding for the acquisition of 750 wristbands, which fire and rescue officials then distributed during home-safety visits. Since then, a total of 2,000 wristbands have been distributed.
The Avon and Somerset Police district covers a wider area than just the city of Avon, however, so it began offering the wristbands to those throughout the county via the Dementia Safeguarding scheme. On the Avon and Somerest Police website, caregivers and other users can fill out application with information such as former addresses, employment, medical issues, photographs and descriptions. Police can then access this data if an individual goes missing. In the meantime, participants receive an NFC wristband for the person linked to that information.
According to King, the system often negates the need for police to intervene, since the bright yellow wristband is easy to recognize. If members of the public notice an individual who needs help, and if that person cannot provide personal information, the good Samaritans can tap their smartphone against the bracelet. The phone will interrogate the tag, capture the unique ID number and open the Avon and Somerset Police dedicated website, enabling them to view the individual’s name, the fact that they have dementia and the neighborhood in which they live, with no address displayed.
Any phone scanning the wristband displays a caregiver’s phone number, along with the instruction, “If I am in need of assistance, please call.” It then offers the option of selecting that number to place a call. This action does not require the reporting of any information to police, King notes. “There is an element of trust,” he says, since the system enables the public to provide help whenever possible, without seeking police intervention. “The vast majority of members of the public want to help.”
When it comes to any risk the wristband might pose if someone with bad intentions taps a tag, King says, “The pragmatic view is that if you’re a criminal, you would be able to identify that they are confused anyway, so there would be very little benefit you could get from the information on the wristband.” Through the dementia forum, and by speaking to charities and support groups, he adds, he found agreement that “There was not much to lose by providing that information, and if it means someone can get assistance to someone quicker, it is worth it.”
The department uses an NFC tools app to write data to the wristband. The police do not track information indicating whether the wristband was scanned, or by whom. “This isn’t police imposing a system on people, it’s about relatives who sign them up,” King says. The bracelet, provided by Seritag, costs little more than a pound, he notes, and is highly robust and water-resistant. “What we designed is a wristband like a wristwatch,” since that was something familiar to those wearing it, and it could be adjusted for comfort.
The band can also be placed on a walker or a coat, and it can be read by any Android-based phone with NFC capability. So far, King says, Apple phones are not yet reading the wristbands. The department has distributed 1,000 bracelets to date. Funding for the bands and the program was provided by private sources, including local water and energy companies.
Whether it is already providing a service to those using the system is difficult to measure, King says. “We have had incidents in which we’ve gone seeking missing persons,” he recalls, who were located before police arrived onsite. King says what he’s heard from dementia caregivers and family members has been highly positive. “It’s been really well received. It’s not a substitute for good care, and this isn’t going to solve all the problems, [but it’s one] tiny thing that can be useful.”