TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — July marks the one-year anniversary since the Purple Alert system was introduced in the state of Florida.
A purple alert is used to locate any missing adults with developmental or mental disabilities who are over the age of 18.
This is different from a Silver Alert, which is used to locate missing people 60 years and up who are suffering from irreversible deterioration of intellectual facilities.
Over the last year, 255 Purple Alerts have been issued and 250 people have been recovered.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement sends emergency phone alerts to Floridians through the Emergency Alert System including television, radio and highway signs.
Each alert has a specific criterion that must be met before it's sent out in order to quickly and efficiently identify the missing person.
“Our goal is always to bring all missing individuals home as quickly and safely as possible as we can," Criminal Justice Professionalism Director Chad Brown said. "We post them on our website, our news site [and] our social media pages – but this gives them another element that puts them statewide with this Purple Alert."
The FDLE points its success to getting the public involved in keeping an eye out for these alerts.
“The program is only as good as the people that are signed up for it," Brown explained. "The more the public...goes in and engages in and looks for these people, the better. So we ask that you go and sign up today.”
Anyone interested can sign up for the Purple Alert system by clicking here.
It’s also important to be mindful of the other alerts in Florida that are used, which include:
- AMBER Alert: Warns of a child abduction
- Missing Child Alert: Engages the public in the search for a missing child
- Silver Alert: Used to locate missing persons with an irreversible deterioration of intellectual faculties
- Blue Alert: Issued when a law enforcement officer is killed, seriously injured, or missing while on duty, and the suspect is still at large