Roger Miles called for his 10-year-old son, Harrison. He looked in every room of his Clarksville home, but could not find him.
"We started frantically searching our neighborhood," said Miles, recalling the October 2004 incident. "I felt panicked. ... It was a very chaotic situation. We were totally blindsided. We didn't know what to do." Howard County police searched for Harrison, who has autism, finding him 45 minutes later.
Harrison now benefits from Project Lifesaver, which outfits a person who is prone to wandering with a bracelet that emits an assigned radio frequency. The bracelet, which can be worn on the wrist or ankle, allows law enforcement officers to find a missing person quickly and easily.
"You're using one to two people for 30 minutes instead of your search escalating to hundreds of people and days," said Gene Saunders, chief executive officer of Project Lifesaver International.
The Howard County Police Department has started a Project Lifesaver pilot program for up to 20 families identified by the Howard County Autism Society. The first five families received bracelets last month.
Spaces are available in the pilot program, which provides the equipment free from the county Police Department, as well as three months of free battery changes. In the future, participants will pay $250 for the equipment and about $10 a month for a battery change, although the Police Department or the Autism Society will offer financial aid.
"It's just a very frightening thing to think that your child or loved one could get away from you," said Elkridge resident Cheri Truett, whose son, Malcolm, 5, wears a bracelet on his wrist.
The special needs of those with a tendency to wander often present additional challenges in a search and rescue.
"For typical kids, it's a scare, too," Truett said. "For us, the scare is heightened because if someone asked [Malcolm] who he is or where he's from, he might not answer in a way they can understand."
Said Miles: "The fact that Harrison can't respond makes those fears 10 times worse. He can't walk up to someone and say ... 'I'm lost.' "
After the 2004 incident, Miles began researching a "solution to [his] situation" and contacted Howard Police Chief William J. McMahon about bringing Project Lifesaver to Howard County.
"We give credit to Chief McMahon for staying behind the program for two years and making sure this program didn't get lost," said police Sgt. Page Christis, who serves as the department's liaison to the Howard County Autism Society.
McMahon and Miles encountered legal issues, such as the Police Department's responsibility if a person using Project Lifesaver were not found. They worked with the Autism Society to develop a pilot program, including the application process.
"This will be an invaluable tool for the Police Department in locating special-needs children," McMahon said in a statement.
Miles said that "the need to provide safety for my child" kept him motivated during the planning and approval process.
"I looked into individual-use [tracking] systems in the retail base, but I still focused on getting Project Lifesaver because none of [the retail devices] provide the same level of safety or security as the Police Department," Miles said.
Project Lifesaver instructors trained 12 police officers and two members of the Department of Fire and Rescue Services to use the transmitting and receiving equipment. Officers also learned ways to gain the trust of people who have been found but may be anxious, disoriented or frightened.
"We hope to expand this to other groups, such as people with Alzheimer's or dementia," Christis said.
Saunders, who founded the nonprofit Project Lifesaver International, worked for 23 years as commander of special operations and search and rescue in the Chesapeake, Va.
"For about two years, I was doing it in my off-duty hours - changing batteries, meeting with [families]," said Saunders. "It got to the point where I was either going to retire and do this full time or leave it, and I wasn't about to leave it."
Because Project Lifesaver is used in 600 agencies in 41 states and Canada, Howard County residents can use the same bracelets when traveling.
Any community with Project Lifesaver can track any bracelet and engage in a search and rescue.
"Project Lifesaver is not a 100 percent guarantee nor is it the only safeguard that a family should have in place, but it is one more layer of protection," said Kim Manning, executive director of the Howard County Autism Society.