Beltrami County is touting the Lifesaver Project’s assistance after a missing man is found

Beltrami County has participated in the Project Lifesaver program since 2015. The program is designed to support those caring for loved ones who are prone to wandering. Through community donations, Project Lifesaver provides the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office with necessary wristbands and equipment maintenance.

Thousands of families across America have benefited from the services made possible by the Project Lifesaver program. The program works by providing registered customers with a wrist transmitter with a unique radio frequency. If a person goes missing, a local law enforcement agency can use the bracelet’s signal to help locate the missing person.

After joining the program, Beltrami County received access to resources and equipment that enabled it to locate program members. Throughout its lifespan, the program has provided beneficiaries the opportunity to meet and get to know those who run it at the Law Enforcement Center in downtown Bemidji.

“To date, I believe there have been over 4,200 rescues nationwide with this program,” said Ryan Humphrey, a parent of a program member. “And it’s – if you look at a spreadsheet on their website, and it only takes a few minutes to hours from the time the call comes in to finding the person and rescuing them, so there’s no other technology that comes close to that.” “

“A lot of times these people are afraid of us and just keep going because they don’t know who we are,” said Robert Billing, Project Lifesaver Coordinator in Beltrami County. “So if we take this thing to where we can actually take it, we could just give them the batteries and show them how to change them, but then they wouldn’t have that interaction every few months, and that’s why I think that “It’s really important to have that with you.”

When it comes to Project Lifesaver, Humphrey claims that the most common concern he heard was whether the member could be tracked or whether there was a possibility that the system could be hacked.

“It has its own individual frequency, it is 100% theirs, [there’s] “It will not be a duplicate, so you can give the frequency to this agency,” Huprhey explained. “Say you stay there for a week, you know, two weeks, and they’ll have it on their radar. If something goes wrong, you call them, give them the frequency and within minutes they can send a deputy to the scene to help find the missing person.”

Recently, the program helped Beltrami County find a missing 19-year-old autistic man. 20 minutes later a call came in saying he was missing, he was found.

“You know, this is just proof that the program works. I mean, this person was found in less than an hour. It only lasted a few minutes,” said Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs. “And it’s just beneficial for everyone involved. As you know, it is for the safety of the client and the family. And then also for the first responders who will actually spend time searching. It brings us much closer to being able to do other things.”

Project Lifesaver has given families in Beltrami County peace of mind knowing their loved ones are safe and protected through the program.

“With this program, they have the peace of mind that if that person is actually wandering around, there’s something that’s more helpful than just searching the area, something that can actually lead us to that person a lot quicker, especially with if we’re in the north of.” “If we’re in Minnesota or we’re, you know, the temperatures could drop or we could also have hot, hot summers and that alone is scary for that person to be out there for more than a few hours.”

For more information about Project Lifesaver of Beltrami County or for a consultation, call 218-333-9111.

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