DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Volusia Sheriff’s Office is taking a proactive approach to safeguard some of the community’s most vulnerable members: children with autism.
In response to tragic incidents last year in which several children with autism ran away and drowned in nearby lakes, the sheriff’s office has partnered with a company to provide families with special tracking devices. Families with children who have autism understand how quickly they can elope, or run away, often drawn to bodies of water.
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Sheriff Mike Chitwood and his office started looking for ways to prevent more tragedies and is now partnered with AngelSense, and on Friday, five Volusia families were equipped with the AngelSense tracking device.
“Every other year we’re trained on how to deal with the autistic community. I think we were lacking as a sheriff’s office not being able to offer something up to our parents that have autistic children to try to help them,” Chitwood said.
In November, two young boys, Waylon Childs of Ormond Beach and Charlie Newton of Deltona, drowned after eloping from their families. The incidents prompted the initiative to provide tracking devices.
The families who received the devices said it was a major relief.
“The insomnia hopefully that I’ve been experiencing — worrying, stressing — about the possibility of elopement in the middle of the night. We’ve already had two issues where we have eloped at 2 o’clock in the morning,” Leeann Krisciunas said.
The AngelSense devices can be worn in various ways and cannot be removed by the child. They allow families and law enforcement to track the child in real time. The device also learns the child’s daily patterns and alerts parents if there are changes, such as not making it to school or home from the bus.
“It’ll send a push notification to their phone. You don’t even have to have the app up. Click on the link and you’ll see where Jennifer is within about 3 or 4 feet. You can also see a picture of what Jennifer is wearing that day,” explained Robert Torgusen, vice president of AngelSense.
Chitwood hoped it would bring peace of mind to parents who are often on high alert.
“Especially when we go out because he’s very quick. They’re very quick to just go. You put your head down for one second and they’re gone,” said Maria Ramirez.
The sheriff said this is a trial run and If successful, they plan to find funding to expand the program to help more families in Volusia.
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